


Sweet Lies in Her Name

by Silvara



Series: The Courtly Legends [1]
Category: Hyrule Historia, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Prequel Manga to Skyward Sword, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Genre: Alternate Ending, Alternate Headcanon, Character Development, Conflict Resolution, Dubcon Soulbond, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Manipulation, Emotional Sex, Evolving personnality, F/M, Femdom, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Game Theory, HEA, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Sexual Content, Intimacy, Loss, Loss of Trust, No Promises No Lies, Non sexual Domination, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Not Really Character Death, Oaths & Vows, Past Emotional Manipulation, Past Goddess/Mortal, Power Dynamics, Power Play, Resolved Sexual Tension, Romance, Self-Discovery, Switch Hylia, Switch Link, Tragedy, Trust Kink, very soft D/s
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-02
Updated: 2017-10-18
Packaged: 2018-12-10 08:26:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 30,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11687838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silvara/pseuds/Silvara
Summary: Link had disposed of Demise. He was sore and limped a little when he returned to his era. But there, burning through the eyes of his beloved friend, he found the gaze of a stranger. Once the stress had faded away, he asked for explanations. As her grace slowly melted his defenses, he found himself learning more about the meaning of trust. Warning : This is a Grimbright version of the game ending.





	1. Sweet Lies

**Author's Note:**

>    •1• Don't expect any action/adventure.
> 
>    •2• Due to Link's codependency and the dubious consent in their relationship, their couple is not healthy. Even though it is featured as positive. (Yeah. Even if they share sweet buns and have telepathy; _especially_ if they have telepathy.) :I 
> 
>    •3• The idea is that the first Zelda, from Skyward Sword, has always been a mortal version of Hylia with dormant memories, instead of being Hylia's reincarnation. Now, here, Hylia was a deity treating mortals with much pragmatism and very little feelings. But that was before she got to know one of them much more closely. 
> 
>    •4• This Zelda's personality _cannot_ completely revert to what it was before she entered the crystal and got one thousand years to explore Hylia's memories. It doesn't mean that she is fading; it just implies that in the span of one thousand years, she has slightly _evolved_. 
> 
> _Thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope you'll enjoy the story._

 

   By the time the hero of Skyloft returned to his Era, the scars of his fight still marring his figure, Groose had already carried Zelda to the other side of the Gate of Time.

   When Link eventually crossed it himself, finally returning to the period of time where they all belonged, _she_ was the first thing he noticed.

   A relief he had not thought possible overflowed him at the sight of his most treasured friend on her feet and about again.

   He smiled and felt his body relax, his feet carrying him onward on their own. It was only then that he realized something was off.

   Demise slain, Zelda was supposed to be fine. (Why maybe a little happy to see him too. With chance.)

   However, the girl in front of him greeted him in silence, with a look of guilt and urgency. Before Link could decide what to say, she stepped forth.

   ...To find the energy to reach the portal, he had distracted himself from the pain of moving broken bones. He had tied to imagine her first action upon seeing him. Would she gape and touch her heart like a maiden? No seriously... Perhaps he would have found himself in her arms (a hug seemed sweet —painful but sweet). Perhaps he would have gotten one of her gentle scolding as she would have checked him for wounds?

   Not recognizing her had not been among his guesses.

   The girl helped him sit on the stone altar and handed him a life potion. When he gave her the empty bottle back, her shoulders sagged.

   "Link!" As soon as she spoke, despite of the relief that lidded her voice, Link decided that he didn't like its gravity.

   "That sword-spirit was not supposed to succeed..." she softly phrased, her voice low, studying him. "The-the Spirit of Demise absorbed a part of my _soul!_ And somehow, somehow..."

   She paused and looked to the huge stone doors of the temple.

   "I can feel this: the wish you did upon the Triforce to destroy his master, Demise," (she shook her head, shaded by despair) "it has never occurred in this present..."

   When she began to speak, guilt and confusion stormed his mind. But her urgency, her unvoiced request for him to hurry and ask question later quickly cut through all cumbersome feelings.

   He listened more closely, and innumerable tiny differences in her behavior progressively rose his defenses, compelling him to resist the pressure.

   She seemed to struggle hard not to fidget while he silently set to untangle the situation, waiting for her to tell more...

   "It seems that he overcame your wish even as you vanquished him again," she pursued, almost whispering, her stance the very picture of worry; "The seal is still there, under the land; under the statute. I can feel it."

   Her eyes meet his with a deep weariness. "In a form or another, _He_ will be back."

   "What!?" Groose shouted?

   "All we did may have to be repeated again, sooner or later..."

   "Why didn't you say it earlier? You're not going back to sleep in the backyard for thousand years, again, Zelda!"

   The girl shook her head as she turned to answer the large red-head standing aside of them.

   "The seal is strong. It will last some time. Decades maybe, or more. Besides, we still have a quicker way to put things back as they were before Demise had awakened."

   Determination set her eyes ablaze when she looked up on him again and Link would have found it mesmerizing if she wasn't currently implying that everything he had done had been for naught.

   "We can use the same door that allowed Ghirahim to cancel your wish!"

   She went to touch the Gate of Time; a white glow enveloped the huge cylinder as the gear framing it began working counterclockwise.

   "It will lead you to the moment right before Ghirahim crossed the portal with me. You only have to destroy him there, before he passes through! Then, the events that happened here will be reestablished in our present reality."

   "I don't think I understand half of this, but..." Groose frowned and took a few steps toward her. "As long as the door will be there, anything can happen, right? I should go with Link to guard the door until White Mushroom is down, then!"

   "Time is a fragile web." Her voice weakened and she blushed. "It is very unwise to send one backward. But it would be foolish to think of sending two..." She slowly shook her head, edgy, nervous; determined.

   "I give you my word; this time, the door will close as soon as you come back," she promised with a quivering voice she managed to still. "We can still end this ordeal for good. To prevent it from happening all over again!"

   Gushes of cold wind swiped under the huge frame of the front doors, rousing old dust and the girl covered her nose with her sleeves.

   While the biggest teen looked too confused to make his mind, Link finally stepped up, stern and set. Face blank, he solemnly nodded toward Groose, waiting to catch his new friend's attention.

   "Groose... Without you, neither of us would be here," Link said gravely. "I can't thank you enough for...for everything." He paused and breathed before separating his words methodically. "Please, now I would like to be alone with Zelda for a while."

   The redhead frowned and looked Zelda over one last time before he nodded and exit the temple.

   As soon as the door closed, Link faced her, his eyes cold, weary, but unwavering.

   "You may want to close this Gate of Time now. Before something new could come and worsen the situation..." he said patiently but with a firmness that she couldn't miss.

   Zelda frowned. "Link, you don't understand—"

   "I can only understand what you are willing to tell me, can't I?"

   Never having heard him speak with a wicked vibe before, she froze. But he wasn't finished and this time, nothing could interrupt him before he was done.

   His voice lost its sweet deceit and turned plainly sour: "Why should I listen to you when I don't even know who you are?" His throat constricted.

   Her face sobered and he felt a sick satisfaction when her lips quivered. She fought with words before closing her eyes.

   "I only want this to end," she gulped down on what sounded like a sob. A shudder shook her petite frame and he scolded himself for feeling the urge to shield her from the winds. "I promise I will tell you everything afterward."

   "I will listen," he stated with gravity, focusing on the distant shape of the tree of Life behind her, "But I cannot blindly follow orders without understanding who gives them." He decided. Then he sighed profoundly. "I don't think crossing time again sounds reasonable either. So I won't."

   For all the determination he wanted to display, he felt his claim a little pathetic when the only idea of Zelda sealing herself away from him again could rush him through the Gate of Time as many times as she wanted. She could easily blackmail him into anything without consequence. But for sure if the benevolent Goddess every Skyloft child had been taught to revere existed, it would be the moment or never for her to show some goodwill of fairness, right? He only had legends and some basic faith to treat with her soul and spirit, but he wasn't going to back down. He threw her a glance.

   She looked close of panic when he added, as casually as he could: "You said we had decades before the seal could weaken again. Why the hurry then? Surely your explanations cannot stretch that long."

   Her face drew in a frown and she sat down on the stone degrees. He steeled himself.

   "These memories you speak of," he pursued, "cannot simply be such. I know the girl I called Zelda, and I am no blind to the differences that mark you. You have done a new kind of magic before my eyes...you made a lyre float on thin air!" He crossed his arms. "Something happened along the centuries you spend in that..." He clenched a fist. "Crystal."

   "The memories took root," she admitted. Before he could react, she took another breath and pursued; "They became more and more detailed in my sleep. Some tactile; all followed with urgency." Without material distractions, the holly water of the temples had worked much faster than before on her...

   "And you reassessed your priorities according to them."

   "I did," she whispered. "I..." She trembled again and her gaze went to the distant wall on her left. "I understood the responsibilities that where mine; how many things and how many people could be forsaken if I didn't honor them."

   She fidgeted a little then slowly stood and walked up to the Gate of Time. One hand on its frame was all it took for it to begin glowing, and flashing closed once again as she sighed resignedly.

   Link finally heaved a sigh; only now realizing that he had been holding it in since his final fight.

   *Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨Ʒ*

   The petite girl clenched her hands, the joints turning pale over the furls of her dress.

   "I am different, I guess. Am I not?" she mused faintly, tense and careful and maybe a little uncertain.

   "I already told you that I... _was_ Hylia, didn't I," she briefly trailed on. "Well, I am also Zelda, a mortal. It appears that Hylia—"

   She shook her head and squared her shoulders, nervous but resolute. "It seems that long ago I...kind of...engineered it, the fate of Zelda." she tested the words, as if unsure of their use.

   "Even if I lost many of my-of her oldest memories, there is some that I remember more clearly, since I left ended my journey by entering this crystal. That was one thousand years ago, you know? Because I've lived them all.

   "There were only sleep for me through these centuries. But my newfound magic made dreams a place of infinite possibilities. I reminisced and I experimented..."

   She blinked perplexed eyes, seemingly as confused by the memory as he was by her low voice and grounded calm.

   "I am sorry, Link.

   "For everything..."

   After a while, she lowered her head and held herself sill. When none of them spoke, she closed her eyes and tightened her awkward hug. "After all, I used you."

   There they came again, those words; whispered as softly as breeze and still the sharpest he had ever heard.

   They hurt much more than the first time she had pronounced them about to lock herself in a crystal coffin for one thousand years...

   In Link's grim silence, the girl began to explain herself. Slowly, clearly, she exposed what had so deeply changed his childhood friend.

   Listening to the words of a womanly girl he knew nothing about, Link felt strange as his wonder and wariness mixed with grief and dread. Resolutely, he remained silent.

   Her tale took him thousands of years back in time, to a lost era where an apparently collected Goddess was in reality simply running out of ideas, perhaps out of her mind, even, to save the world she was entrusted with...

   The girl told him of a day when a battle brought a lethal blow that tore down the pretensions of a Guardian Deity; the day she realized that she would fail the world and its absent Goddesses.

   So the Deity created devices and tricks and weapons to help her, and finally, time's inner-workings had become clearer and clearer to her with the Triforce's divine insight granted by the mere presence of the Powers. Hence she learnt to weave through the fabric of time, itself.

   Although she was unable at that point to visit the future, she had time to learn how to peruse it from afar. There she found a hope to put an end to the slaughter and she also glimpsed the soul of a child that would lead to an unbreakable spirit. She chased every hazard around of her Chosen's heart and rebirth. Without disturbing Farore's laws, she subtracted a body before it had a soul: the mortal vessel she spared for herself.

   Sometimes, Link would ask over a point and the girl who looked like Zelda stopped to answer with disconcerting patience.

   Her voice sounded resigned as she admitted having purposely left a weakness in her cloud barrier for the spirit named Ghirahim to kidnap her, leading her Hero to begin the journey that would craft his heart and body to fit the Triforce and ensure that his Wish would be granted.

   Eventually, Link sat on the other side of the altar and bent backward, the vivid touch of the cold sharp stone under his hand being his last anchor to pride.

   "Everything I can decide or feel is fake." he only whispered, his voice tired, empty after everything seemed to have been said. To divert himself from the hurtful silence that answer his words, he sighed deeply and filled his lungs with new air.

   Then, slowly, he turned to watch her form and readied himself.

   "What now?"

   Seconds felt like hours as heard to reply.

   Again, he weighted her words in a crushing silence until he asked more pointedly; "What then? What was supposed to happen once— _if_ I had fulfilled my purpose?"

   The girl parted her lips and humidified them before talking. "Some details in the reasons are still unclear. But neither now nor ever have I intended to hurt you." She sounded hesitant. "I could only believe in your success and focus on this scenario..."

   The young man that a Goddess had forced into the role of a hero briefly glanced at the face of the girl. But she didn't try hiding the fright that showed under her expression of overwhelming guilt.

   "The ancient Ladies—the real Goddesses—left right after they created this world. I know little more than common Legends about them, but I am positive that they would not interfere in our matters even if they returned."

   His face was a blank, collected mask as he let her speak.

   "So when Demise set war against our people for refusing his rules, I sought their Golden Powers of legend and hide Them in the... silent world you found Them in.

   She cringed when she mentioned the Triforce.

   "Even the people up in the sky would be lethally affected if a being as powerful and organized as Demise ever found the Powers. But as soon as I took Them with me, Demise knew it... I was in a hurry, I..."

   Silently, she drew her breath and let it out in a resigned sight.

   "In any case," she added gravely "None of that means I am a lie."

   He grimaced, a sliver of frustration rising in his chest. He brushed it off just before something else could altered it. "Which one are you now?"

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨Ʒ

   The Chosen's confusion was genuine, but the irony of their situation hit Hylia harder than the dripping civility he had voiced earlier. She blinked back tears. What use was it to explain herself if he didn't even know who was talking to him.

   His eyelids dropped and her gaze grew resigned, weary.

   She stood up and slowly made her way in front of him, answering with the less disappointing truth she could.

   " _Zelda_ is not a lie."

   Link's eyes immediately fell on her and it was too easy to see the regret behind his defenses. She felt her will break. Her heart soared painfully, longing to sooth the vulnerability that was never supposed to show in her Hero's stance.

   "My feelings are my own. All of them..." She tripped a little over her syllables. "Some evolved." She inhaled. "But none about you changed." And that was almost true.

   Her whispers stretched with a wistful accent in the silence of the ancient walls, as the Hero's face changed over the course of her every world.

   Finally, jaw set and lips pinched, his frame straightened again and his lips parted.

   She exhaled, waiting for her Chosen's judgment.

   Anger, at least, was an emotion Hylia had already seen on him, and one she could manage to face right now. ...Even through the formidable hatred he had directed toward the Spirit of Demise still was a sight to behold on the face of Zelda's calm childhood friend.

   She braced herself for it, but when Link narrowed his eyes at her she only found distrust and pain in them. It hurt more than she expected.

   ...At least, she had said it all.

   It would probably take time, but she could only try to win back his trust from then on. Not because he was the only true friend she ever had for thousands of years, but because she owed him this much at least, even if he didn't care. Besides, she felt surprised by the peace that dawned on her when she was done. It was the first time she had told someone so much.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨Ʒ

   Words were out of his grasp and he didn't really need them anyway. The girl who held his gaze was... Zelda was... He didn't know anymore. He didn't care to think about it. He felt her grasp one of his hands. When her other softly set on his shoulder, he had to steel himself.

   "How should I call you now?"

   She frowned and took her hands back.

   "Link... I don't know what you're trying to ask, but I won't try to persuade you if you don't believe me..."

   "By what name do _you_ want me to call you," he corrected, interrupting her lukewarm act of defense. As she pondered that, he felt glad for her little outburst that was way closer to the dear friend he remembered.

   She had many answers, but she dismissed something like 'it is about what you want' and settled for a compromise: "This is up to you, Link. Now, with Impa's returned to her era, only you and Groose know of (she gestured awkwardly toward the temple) my heritage. It would make all of our live quieter that it remains so."

   He nodded nonchalantly. When he sought to probe the eyes of the young woman facing him, he found the reflection of a person much older, with a determination and a strength that wasn't those of his childhood friend. Maybe these all were figment of his imagination, but the more he searched a confirmation on her face the more he noticed the differences. In the way she moved her hands, in the words she used, in the way she looked at him—

   "I believe you," for some reason, he hesitated saying her name and decided to simply refrain from it.

   The statement shocked her so much her face would have been fun, had they not surprised him as much. He blinked.

   "You believe me?" She bent her head in wonder; another familiar gesture _—but he could really had done without that kind of weightless details warming his heart right now._

   "Did you tell me everything?"

   She nodded. "Everything of my plan to rid this land of the Spirit of Demise, yes!"

   "Have you lied at some point?" She shook her head disbelievingly.

   "Then I believe you."

   She looked frozen. Tears gathered in her eyes and spilled on her cheekbones, shin, chest... Her mouth formed a delighted surprise as a smile blossomed on her face, easily sweeping him off his feet.

   In the span of a couple seconds, she had crossed the space between them in eagerness, so glad and moved and wonderful— She took in his face and her hands hovered on his lips, shin, lightly touching his torso, still quivering and _Heavens_ — She felt _wonderful_ against him; the rising movement of her chest and the liveliness of her perfect frame...of the whole _calculated_ perfection of a wonderful _construct_ (Link bitterly corrected) shouldn't matter to him anymore. He should, _no,_ he _had_ no other option than to overcome this...; to transcend her.

   Somehow.

   He breathed in the colder air that kept sweeping in the temple.

   He looked about to speak and she winced, bracing herself some more. She looked so wary of his rejection —so beautiful and deceivingly adorable— when he took her hand... Her gaze was filled with hope when he squeezed her wrists. (Heavens — too much to bear...) As soon as possible without worrying her, he pulled away, disappeared through the forest and dove in the fresh waters of the river.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨Ʒ

   He awoke on the small place uphill behind the temple, vaguely remembering his intention to only rest a second. Still tired, he forgot the purpose of his fatigue, and soon enough, she flooded his mind again.

   When he first saw the Triforce on the statue again, he had wondered about the seal. But knew better than to ask. As far as he knew, Goddesses didn't need to lie and he could trust Zelda's word over serious matters. He could have suggested to fly up to the statue and try to make a new wish. Even so, the legends were unclear about the consequences of a wisher whose heart was unbalanced in the virtues they represented. The trials she had put him through only suggested the requirements to be severe... Well, he assumed that she would have suggested it already if something that simple could work.

   Resentment quickly worn off that day; _ridiculously quickly in fact_ , snickered his wounded pride.

   Yet, the shadow of betrayal would always mare their interactions ; he knew this for a fact, a cleaving sharp truth.

   ...

   She had told him how the old lady guarding the temple was in fact Impa. She still mourned her...her guardian's loss.

    _And still, the loneliness in the depths of that girl -that woman's- eyes felt ages old. She worn it about her with a sense of long honed resignation._

   This line of thought didn't want to leave him in peace somehow, nagging, tugging, almost as much as the plaguing feelings he couldn't trust anymore weighted him despite of himself.

   So he filled his days with physical work, plans for a small cozy shack under the great forest tree— at this point anything was better than the huge cold temple. (He tried not to dwell on the fact that it kind of had been her temple precisely.)

   The more he thought about the girl he had called Zelda, and the less he could deal with the feeling of betrayal. She had said Zelda wasn't a lie, but what of the little things he held so dear that he could not find in this woman? What of their dreams? What of their common projects? He helplessly found himself thinking about the fate of the wooden Loftwing he had been carving out for her birthday.

   Well...once he _had_ wondered if the blisters were worth its size— but he couldn't exactly had afforded better tools and it didn't feel right to shorten the size, so...

    _Would he be able to break it if it allowed him to make peace with himself?_

   For some reason, something in the back of his mind felt horrified at the thought. He squashed it down tentatively, a little surprised by its force.

   *Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨Ʒ*

   Over the course of the following days, while it wasn't true that Link had avoided her... allegedly, behaving like a distant relative the way he had around of her hadn't exactly been courageous.

   For his defense, it was difficult to be close to her while he still struggled not to associate the endearment he found in her form to a soulless illusion. He remembered Gondo's robot and wondered if Scraper's feelings weren't more natural than his owns.

   Zelda was everything he had ever knew; the only person he had had since his earlier days. He couldn't imagine losing her, might it be the illusion of her. When he thought about it, only one question came up, and hovered in his mind: Was it so wrong to love a construct?

   What was so different from the way the _Farore_ she mentioned, created life? What made Zelda's features less legit than those of any other person the goddesses of yore created? Maybe... —He could have snorted, the thought lidded with cynicism...yet... _Maybe_ he ought to feel honored that a goddess designed his best friend according to his own affinities.

   Because, well, it came to that after all...

   But he would have to be honest eventually; to acknowledge what really worried him once he had finished serving her...

   In its loud grinding, the old stone door close behind him. He breathed in. Thinking it over as long as he would wouldn't solve anything, and he was bound to confront her sooner or later if he ever was to find peace again. Hearing the sounds of Zelda's steps closing near rose conflicting eagerness, longing and dread.

   He hardened himself to keep from turning toward her yet. After an awkward silence, her voice rose and she saluted him.

   Feeling disarmed, he let a sigh escape, brows drawn under the new weight of tiny worries.

   He tried to smooth his features over as he turned his head somewhat in her direction and instead of speaking, extended a hand.

   "I bring pumpkin soup and two life potions. Goselle gave some sweets too. Groose was overjoyed...but showed some measure of manners. I'd dare to say he has grown respect for you." Zelda joined her hands and set her gaze far over the trees line of horizon. "They asked about you. ... They care a lot for you."

   Still unwilling to speak, he extended a hand on the grass on his side.

   Nervousness delayed her response one second before she came to his side and sat down three feet away. He let his hand feel down, the grass feeling fresh under his palm.

   Zelda could hear her own quickening heartbeat but waited for him to gather his words in a dry throat — the effort it demanded him almost perceptible through his forced breathing.

   "You said..." he began, voice croaking despite it all. "You said Zelda was not a lie. ...Right?"

   "Absolutely," she confirmed in that deeper, older voice of hers. (He still couldn't get used to it.)

   Link opened his mouth but closed it again. Only when he found the right words did he ask "What...does it means?"

   The girl searched his eyes, and again, gave an answer very cautiously;

   "Simply put...I am still Zelda. But...I am no longer limit— I'm more than the sum of the experiences I have had as a mortal." She slowly shook her head, her eyes fierce as they gazed deep into his.

   "Notwithstanding," she mouthed slowly around the words as if they were hurting her lips, "many things have changed. There were many things I didn't understand back then..." Her features knotted slightly. "I have...changed. _I_ would never have asked you to put your life in this kind of jeopardy." _I_ will never ever use you that way," she assuaged, maybe more for herself than for Link.

   "Regardless," she added with a melodious voice, "the final decisions have always been yours to make; the same goes for your feelings."

   The silence settled back, heavy with her guilt and his betrayal. She jumped a little when his hand came to rest against hers but he quickly covered her wrist with surprising confidence.

   "Of course not. It's not that simply. It has never been." Link watched a wince take over her downcast face. "But maybe it is for the best."

   He stilled the strokes of his fingers. At her confused expression he felt a weary smile tug at his lips. No matter how petty his little feud, revenge still felt sweet. Sadly, any contentment was lost as soon as tears gathered in her eyes.

   "I acknowledge recent mistakes." _She confessed, growing overwhelmed by the way he took things._ "Once I— _Hylia_ had thought to know everything about you," she whispered. "But the time we spent together showed me how far I have been arrogant. She— _I_ should have had faith in your wisdom. Only now do I realize that you would have fought the same, with as much resolve had I explained myself instead of running."

   "Impa..."

   "Impa has nothing to do with my decisions. I may not have the Goddess' powers, but she would have listened all the same. She trusted my judgment."

   He didn't show the surprise she dreaded.

   Zelda had never been one to follow orders for long. She always tried to get the upper hand of any situation she didn't like. ... It would be unlikely that their Goddess was any less willful after all.

   They stood in silence, somewhat soothed by the peaceful sight of the sky. The cloud barrier sung, high up there, but it was hardly sighted from the surface. From everywhere, as the roof of their world, the ethereal blue arch stretched on.

   He could recall his first days on the surface almost a year back, at the beginning of their journey. Had he not be rushed by the fear of losing her, he would have been more careful around of the temples, took more time. And... By the same mean — by getting a better grasp of their inner working, he would probably also sooner improved his battle skills, as would have his soul's will and endurance in the silent realm's trials. It could have worked just as well. Probably.

   "I should have just trusted you," she repeated with a poised finality, pulling him back to the present.

   "Not even because you were a dear friend. Or kind, generous, focused, strong willed..." She shook her head, her grave eyes cast in an unreachable and dark place. "Simply because I knew you; choose you." She nodded, and something in the delicate line of her jaw spoke of might and frozen passion; "Even back then, I should have been able to understand as much."

   She smiled, tasting the sweet and sour self-derision. "Truly... What point would there be in underestimating my champion... I may be frailer now but I think...I-I was always weak with cowardice." Her eyes closed with the remnants of pain as her voice drifted into silence.

   A little unsure of what he should do or say, Link hesitated. But he had faced giant dragons, and gods yet. There was no reason for the solemnity of a beloved voice to freeze him now.

   "Well...embracing mortality to rise again the deity that already killed you...is not the first thing I would choose to define cowardice." he offered tentatively, tilting his head with curiosity.

   She considered this silently and squeezed his hand with gratitude. His next words caught when he saw the expression of cheer happiness he had caused. It made him hesitate a little in continuing.

   He nervously brushed the base of his neck. "In fact, I _lied_ too... In a way." He smiled sheepishly for a second and swayed his head, finding suddenly interest in the aspect of his shoes. "By omission."

   In the way her face turned up to blink, for a moment, he saw only Zelda as curiosity starched the movement of her head into an inquisitive tilt.

   He smiled but his gaze went farther away, shadowed by his thoughts as he processed her words.

   "Because, no matter what...Hylia...may have planned," he carefully began, "now, I am sure of three things."

   "The third is that I never felt forced to do anything I did what I had meant to and I have no regret about it," he confided with some defiance. "Herded or not, I don't very much believe in destiny." He smiled. "Do you want to know the second?"

   She blinked and nodded.

   His eyes slid sideways. "I think the Zelda I knew and I...we may have been closer than I thought, after all. And whether it was meant to be so or not is of little importance to me."

   She saw the small curl of his lips and chucked a little. He seemed to want to add something but grinned instead.

   "Can we taste that pumpkin soup?"

   "Mh... Didn't you forget to tell me the first thing?"

   His demeanor changed at that, and he fidgeted a little. When he finally lifted blue eyes to look at her again, his expression made her forget to breath.

   "No," he whispered, "I didn't."

   A fluttering feeling heaved her chest with an elating satisfaction when she realized he was leaning into her face. But his advance was slow and half an inch apart, he slowed down with hesitation.

   His long maddening descent forced her to school herself firmly, least she might draw him in herself. In her concentration, her brows drew together and she felt her heart rise to pulse on the tip of her lips.

   When Link finally made contact, as soon as his warm lips molded into her, he recoiled as if burnt.

   The expression she found on his face presented so many colorful conflicts that she couldn't decide how to react herself. She tilted her head and glanced sideways before she could help herself.

   She could imagine diving on his mouth and hugging him to smoother the half mad chuckle that wanted to bubble out of her throat. But she didn't want to push her luck. No matter how adorable and exasperating he was, she couldn't afford to frighten him.

   She kept her eyes off his figure to gather her wits and said the right thing...the urge to grin, frown, scold and touch him greatly distracted her from the task.

   Zelda would probably have tickled him —she almost considered it before her too mortal hormones stopped messing with her head.

    _Well...was that his first point?_ All of her memories couldn't help a blush to rise to her cheeks as she turned soulful eyes to him with her whisper:

   "I'm glad."

   His blush was brief as a smile easily broke through it, and she needed no more to take confidence.

   She rose a hand, sliding her fingers up his jaw, brushing his cheek and his eyes softened with newfound fascination.

   There was no hesitation when she leaned in to nuzzle his nose.

   She heard the jolt of mirthful surprise catching in his throat while his eyes closed, a soft knot in his brows as he almost stopped breathing.

   Her other hand came to his plexus and trailed up to his chest, until she rested it on the warm side of his neck, her slightly colder hand feeling the rhythmic of his heart against the shell of her skin.

   She briefly opened her eyes to check on him before she caught his lips, focusing not to claim.

   She wasn't sure how much time had passed when his hands finally dared to land on her arms, barely drawing her in a cautious embrace. It felt difficult not to sigh against his lips... She tasted lettuce and nuts in his mouth, the memory of their earlier meal. With the tip of her tongue, she explored an old scar seared into his upper lip. She felt exhilarated and further responsible when she sensed the pliancy of his tongue.  
As she heard him sigh, she passed an arm around his shoulder, and the last part of his frame finally relaxing once her embrace had turned assertive.

   Yet when one of his hands fisted in the fabric of her sleeve, she paused. In a few shuddering breaths, she reached a decision and glided her hand down to his chest to tread fingers on the small area on naked skin, slowly slipping two fingers into his neckline as a question.

   It took little time before they were fumbling with each other clothes. When things went awkward and she felt exasperated with his tunic, she brushed his blond curls one last time before she gave him space to get rid of it. She disrobed and stopped his nervous hands with a fond smile to take over with his woven belt.

   His grin came at the same time as his blush this time and she knew that some things would be fine, after all.


	2. Grapefruit Truths

   That morning, the aftermath of their consumption was a buzzing silence paced by heartbeats and cast in profound peace.

   Well, that wasn't quite it. Not for the last part at least.

   Hm.

   Well.

   He...he had decided to trust her.

   Truthfully, the imperious and wrenching need to do so that had inhabited him all along might have had a little say in the decision. (But Link balked about the mounting surges of fatefulness that treated him with a dreadful edge of despair.)

   He had decided _(he stressed out the word just in case,)_ to just accept her in her whole.

   So why even in the afterglow of lovemaking, did he hardly know peace? There was a ridiculously big feeling of hope consuming him from the inside out, almost burning his skin to the back of his eyes, the ends of his lips, the points of his fingers... It terrified him, how much of his heart depended on it, on this new person that he had just seen for who she was.

   Well he wouldn't have died without her, would he? ... Even it was difficult to convince himself of these words.

   For almost one year, he had lived almost only for her. Now, the world didn't need him anymore. Zelda didn't need him anymore. His life purpose felt thin, meager now. And truth to be told, he wasn't quite sure what to do with himself. ...Until she accepted his kiss.

   But feeling estranged from Zelda still hurt. He wanted to learn more about her and hoped she would let him.

   He checked on her sleeping form closer. She had a discreet yet commanding presence. Even in her young and short body, something around her inspired the respect of an elder.

   It was... much too new.

   Alright, it felt a little weird. And the peace that surrounded her sleeping face was unfair. Why was he the only one so nervous?

   He watched her features still, paying attention to the details.

   There was no tentative attraction, here...

   Her appearance mattered. Though, knowing why it appealed so much to him it felt more disturbing than encouraging.

   He had embraced her because he had needed Zelda...and somehow, somewhere his Zelda was a part of her.

   In her change, he had been afraid for their friendship. Wasn't it doomed to fade now that she had gone through so much? There were at least one-thousand years of memories between them, each with remnants of much older life experience.

   At least, even If their new intimacy had been an impulsive act born of urgency and despair on his end, knowing that she cared that much, that she could enjoy herself with him had been an immense relief.

   In hindsight, perhaps he had overreacted a little. Perhaps they wouldn't have to be distant, after all, if secrets and ancient knowledge didn't rule out having this...

   Yes. She had told him everything he had asked, she didn't try to hide from him. He had no reason to distrust her of course. ...He wouldn't let his doubts create a rift between them.

   Link touched her shoulder light enough to leave her undisturbed. Carefully, he spooned her and, at least, sighed.

   Lying on his side, his head in his palm, he looked at her. Her sleep looked peaceful, restful (this triggered a measure of satisfaction).

   For a moment, gifted with the sight of her body's abandon; with the innocent, happy curves of her brows, and the fair softness of her skin, he marveled.

   In her sleep, there was a clear contrast in her. This... _new_ Zelda looked fragile. Breakable. Mortal. And her vision, their reality, everything felt like a dream he would wake from at any moment. 

   He felt something strange bubble up in his heart, a nondescript feeling gushed from a deep recess of his mind demanding to be acknowledged.

   It might have been there long before he realized it; even since his late childhood, when the way she looked at him had registered somewhere, somehow, without meaning anything precise to his young carefree mind. Still, it often stirred butterflies in his heart, back then.

   (Now, he thought with deadpan irony, the butterfly had just moved a bit lower.)

   Now, the intensity of this need was almost tangible; like a ghostly promise teasing his fingertips; a dream that had been touched, yet not possessed...and he now knew it to be bigger than flesh callings.

   The more he focused on it, the more impetuous it grew, itching, almost hurting. But what worried him was that he had no idea what he wanted — needed so desperately from her.

   Was he afraid to be left behind?

   She had evolved, and maybe that was a part of it. But why did it border on despair?

    _She_ was Zelda.

   She was still the Zelda who had asked him to free her from that crystal.

   His eyes softened. Candidly, he parted his lips on whisper and before he knew it, asked "...my Zelda...?"

   He covered his mouth and fought the blood rush in his cheeks when she inhaled deeply.

   Her eyes opened, lightening her face with blue pools. Unable to look into them, he mentally counted the spots of dirt on a faraway wall of the huge room. He didn't see her gaze lowering with the same candor with a shade of wistfulness.

   "Do you think..." (Her whisper was so faint he almost missed it.) "Can I be?"

   He ran his tongue over them, swallowing a painful tightness in his throat. From the crease of his brows to his trembling lips, he felt lost amidst a sea of raw shards of feelings.

   Renouncing words, he cupped her cheeks with both of his hands and focused on not gripping too hard. She raised herself groggily to sit up and he felt glad to find that she had the same expression on her face because he wasn't sure his eyes wouldn't begin to leak.

   He leaned forward, touching her forehead with his. His eyes filling with gratefulness.

   He felt fingers comb though his hair and the tender touch soother his nerves. His head suddenly felt too heavy for his neck; he let it slide down hers.

   Wordlessly, he let himself fall forward to wound arms around her neck. Flush against Zelda's side, for a few minutes he stopped to care for anything else.

*Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨Ʒ*

   The world felt blurring again beyond their eyes, as memories occupied too much of their minds to see much else.

   Tiredly, half aware of her actions, Hylia stirred her legs and snuggled cold toes further into Link's tights.

   His furious hiss confused her before she smiled and resettled against his warm body, more covering than reclining on him; the only way to ease his urge to clothe again and cover his modesty.

   She shifted to watch the rays of the sun peering on the Tree of Life through the temple's roof. The comfortable silence and the even movements of his chest washed away the last trace of her fears and hesitations.

   "We are still friends," she whispered, slowly gathering his hands in hers. "Right?"

   Of course he was one of the most considerate persons she had known, especially among males, so his response didn't add much surprise. Yet the answer she sought was found in the vibe of his voice, the tension of his neck, the rhythm of his breath. She knew he meant it.

   Her heartbeat finally calmed enough for her to be able to hear beyond their conversation. Minutely, the rest of the world became solid again, its colors brighter than ever.

   Still she was surprised by his next words.

   "I barely imagine who you were, but I feel that I can trust you.

   "I don't understand why. This doesn't make much sense, does it?" he added and gave a halfhearted attempt at a smile.

   (She pondered his words, not quite ready for this conversation. When the tiny trace of self-pity quickly disappeared from his voice, it left her proud and very much too relieved.

   He snickered, there; but the radiant grin that reached his eyed turned up to be more accepting than she could have hoped yet.)

   "For all I know, you can be using magic on my perceptions." Through his tone was teasing, she didn't miss the serious awe hidden in his voice.

   She went to retort, yet before she could, he shifted on his legs and sat on his knees, bringing his hands together on his lap, his open expression sweeping her off her feet.

   "But it would matter very little now," he concluded, "Hylia."

   She stilled her breath. All of her senses focused on him at once, intent on deciphering his state of mind as quickly as possible.

   In vain. (She fought off the shadow of panic.)

   Nonetheless, it was on a whisper of shy deference that her old name had flown... and was now echoing strangely in her chest.

   She felt an ancient, heavy sensation rising. Roaring, pressing and demanding beyond her complete understanding, it hinted at emotions that would have confused, perhaps worried the _Zelda_ she had been not so long ago.

   Then he colored and scratched the back of his neck.

   "Is it really okay to call you by this name...even if we are alone..."

   Trying not to stare, she assured him that it was fine and managed a smile that didn't seem rabid.

   "If you don't mind, I will stay here." her Chosen pursued, clueless of her affect. "Even if I know only a small part of you, I cannot resign myself to let you alone. Because...there is still many hostile creatures here."

    _Oh. But of course, that made much sense._  

   ...

   He didn't often side-step truths by playing around words, so she was amused by his words. However she had to cover the sliver of exasperation on her expression.

For days now, she had waited with dread the moment he would decided that they were due to and leave the Temple and return to Skyloft. She would have seen him off then, for her life could not be kept to the skies any more than she could forget who she had been.

Schooling her face to neutrality, she asked "Do you think I need protection?"

   Before he could answer she pulled back and sat up. "I just awakened from a thousand year sleep," she granted, "It does tends to numb both the body and the mind... But even without all of Hylia's...of my ancient memories, I still kept some handy tricks. My magic has been depleted and my fencing reflexes have never been as good."

   "Never since Zelda's birth, I mean," she clarified, tilting her head with bemused curiosity. "I am not without resources, you know."

   "I didn't think you were," he quickly amended, but she slowly lifted a brow. Just as she expected, his lips hesitated mid-word. Then, roaming her gaze over his lean yet fit kneeling figure without any reserve woke a newfound part of her that seemed to have been long repressed.

   "Living all alone would be dangerous for any...and, well, mortal, so..." As she took in the way he waited, almost fidgeting, his cute concern brought her a tiny measure of delight —nothing close to sadism (to her huge relief) but nothing exactly innocent either.

   "Oh. I see now," she nodded with mock-coyness. "So you feel obligated to live down in the wilds as well to ensure the safety of a naive fellow, yes? ...Sounds selfish of them."

   His neck began to color.

   "I-I'm not," he sighed, looking down. "Maybe I phrased it wrong."

   He raised his head and straitened trying to ignore the smoking red points of his ears.

   "Would you have me staying here? So that we live together on this world?"

   "Well, if you say it like that..." Her smile lost its mischief, growing placating now.

   She he curtsied from the head. "I would be honored to have your company."

   He huffed silently with a false, refined exasperation that made her chuckle. She nudged his shoulder with hers.

 _"Of course I want you to stay, silly boy!"_ Her expression became almost shy. "Actually, I've wondering how to ask you..." she confessed. And basking in this simple and genuine moment, they smiled, content of this rare moment of understanding.

   Only a few minutes had passed as they went to their domestic routine until he looked at her bemusedly.

   Eventually, his thoughts had brought him somewhere else. When his eyes meet her, this time they shone with conflicted guilt.

   She didn't question him, waiting for him to speak on his own. When he finally did, she heaved a silent breath of relief before she realized it.

   "Say... About— on before you were Zelda... What do you remember of your life? The memories may stretch far and through millennia, I'd guess."

   "Well..." She held her breath and exhaled, eyes downcast.

   "I don't know much about that. It will sounds strange...yet...of all the faces I have probably met, and the obstacles on my own path to the Triforce, there is little I remember beside of you and my hope to get rid the land of the spirit of Demise."

   Her voice became a whisper. "You are the only person I remember so clearly...the only person I got close to," she offered a minute later, when he looked still tense, unsure on which aspect of her existence his inquiry had been directed."

   It only made him flush in addition to fidgeting. She raised a brow, wondering if she should be apprehensive of his next words too.

   "Oh. Yet...there...must have been a lot of experiences you have known. Maybe, maybe I...you... I'm perhaps going to have to...well..."

   He opened his mouth again, his lips trembled with nervousness and he gave up and made a face so exasperate with himself that she had to bit her cheeks not to burst out laughing despite of the warm pity it rose in her chest.

   "If there is anything you want to know, you only have to ask and if I can provide an answer, I will."

   When no response came she prodded a little. "I mean it. Do you understand?"

   He nodded, unable to meet her eyes. There was a reason why the Triforce had accepted her Chosen's Wish, though; he silently took a deep breath and moistened his lips, squaring his shoulders as if he was about to face a Tear Guardian.

   "It may be silly," he tried, but decided to chance tactics. He turned his eyed to meet hers square again.

   "Y-you know," he fought to keep himself together, "well, we used to assume... Remember the tale of the Goddess' Chosen whom Her Grace had asked to lead our peop...to lead her people during the Final War..."

   Hylia blinked. Her face retained perfect composure even as she began to suspect the motive of his nervousness.

   Well. Mortal or not, she would not roll her eyes, she insisted keeping a severe grip on her features.

   " _Our_ people," she filled in, stalling a little. (But really? _Why would men..._ This was just pointless...)

   She closed her eyes and pretended to look at their joined hands to mask the sigh that almost won over her resolve.

   "For sure, you must still remember of _him_ ," Link finished on the tiniest voice than she had ever heart.

   Her eyes glazed over as a breeze messed her heavy blond tresses and tickled her forehead. Her jaw tightened before she managed to look back into his eyes.

   "Well, I guess there is still something I... _forgot_ to tell you," she conceded with a measure of reluctance.

 


	3. Ancient Truths

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter may have more typographic errors and awkward dialogues...but I'm rewritting the whole story right now, so please, bear with it just a little longer.

   Less than half an hour later, they were properly clothed and there was no more pumpkin soup left. When his gaze found hers, Zelda knew she wouldn't be able to keep the answers Link wanted until the morrow.

   She put her napkin away and folded her hands behind her back. This stance made her seem older, more severe somehow...but he didn't let himself be distracted.

   "I do remember a time...moments spent studying a Knight. Then...years later...studying changed into sharing, devising and fighting alongside him. And later still, our inevitable parted ways..." she began carefully, searching deep into the small part of long lost memories that had been returned for good a thousand years past, years slept away in her self-inflicted stasis.

   "You have sure read how Knights risked their life to run impossible errands at the whim of their liege, came peace or war, back then; the most skilled only able to expect to retain had all of their limbs for a decade with much luck...?"

   "Well... This Knight, a mortal...decided to fight for the people who had deeply scarred him in both body and mind...for decades. He took this responsibility in the name of a goddess in which he hardly believed. ...I knew I had rightfully chosen. His spirit and his body would protect his people; creatures who rose among others in grace and beauty to build colossal kingdoms, flourishing peacefully on the surface. My...Hylia's beloved ones." She smiled, softness and awe in her as she whispered "they used to call themselves _Hylians_..."

   She cleared her voice and blinked.

   "The Knight surpassed all I had seen in willfulness. Gore, injustice, betrayal, violence, cruelty...even gratuitous evil were powerless against him will. He could be hurt one thousand times, yet no evil would rub off on him or shackle him as he got up."

   She smiled. "And he always got up." The ghost of her smile filled her cloudy eyes. "I...still don't understand how it can be..."

   She slowly shook her head, to return to the task at hand and found her track again.

   "If any mortal could wish on the Triforce, I knew for sure that this Knight could be acknowledged by Its Powers. But first, his heart had to be prepared," she told, remembering the sight of her Chosen's frail and tortured body hanging from the dirty moist stone wall of an old prison cell.

   She had feared he would die from hunger and pain then. Her hanger had took much will to alleviate. Inspiring the kingdom's magistrate to look into his charges again required subtly and patience. Not an easy task when all she wanted was to tear the prison apart and free her chosen herself.

   But if anything, she knew control. She managed.

   "As he was...he was not ready to balance the three Powers yet. So I came to him to request that he fought in the war against Demise's hordes. He would protect his people but he would also assist me where I could not go among his peers, talking in my name."

   Her eyes grew distant again. "He always treated me with the deference owed to a liege... His heart didn't expect any good from me. It was..." she shook her head, cutting the thought.

   "Well. Through our interactions, he learnt to know me as I already knew everything about him."

   "His trust was not easily earned, but once he gave it, it was without restraint."

   There was a glow of pride in the nostalgia of her voice. "Where there had been wariness, grew respect and from admiration bloomed affection... A feeling we shared both, that we saw turning into something else."

   Her head lowered to watch his shoes before she noticed it and she sighed. "We found ourselves treading between friendship and passion."

   "It was not a physical yearning, you see...so I had no reason to worry. After all he was so thoughtful, so mature for a mortal... I knew there would be no false hope in his heart. So I didn't thought ill could happens because of the feelings I nurtured..."

   Her eyes hardened and she shut her jaw. "Yet passion it was and I didn't understood how far the feeling could bring me."

   Sadness slipped in past her composure for a second and her head slanted slightly toward him.

   "Can you imagine why even such a relationship remains ill fit for a Goddess?"

   The question jolted Link out of his thoughts. As he searched his mind, brows knotted in concentration, his friend's expression softened with a trace of amusement. She parted her lips again and he gladly fell back on just listening. _(Heh, silence of mind was precious to keep up with thousand years old exclusive revelations as they came...)_

   "The people" she said, "had set ideals and defined ideas of what I was to be...and their will depended strongly on their faith."

   Her voice was so grim that he felt perplexed but the gratefulness etched on her face when she spoke of mortals.

   "Of course, I couldn't disappoint...no matter how nonsensical these standards could be found. But most of all, favoring one believer over many others, who equally offered their lives, is unjust. It was a betrayal...of...Hylia's clerics, and so, a sin in selfishness. There was no time nor solid enough purpose to change things."

   ...She felt tired, cornered and lonesome just from retelling her memories.

   "So... Knowing that, I thought I could just..."

   She shook her head again and lifted her head, pragmatism falling back into place as her shoulders squared again and her eyes sharpened with cold logic.

   He felt the buzzing of magic diminish in her aura, as if suppressed. After a pause she went on.

   "The long time we spent together was only justified by his mission. We refused each other more intimacy.

   "But the Spirit of Demise, whom we called the Abhorred, had attacked before my Knight was prepared, and I had no time left to bring him to the place where I had hidden the Triforce.

   "So I sent him back to his people, for him to gather those who remained and watch over them while I faced the _Spirit of Demise_. ...You have heard how it went. I vanquished him first. But the blow he gave me proved lethal. As I felt my life-force desert me, I knew I would not survive long. Two month it took for the magic-poisoning to reach my heart."

   "My heart went weak and I finally indulged in my selfish yearnings... I went to find my...the Knight in the sky. We met on a small island, bare of any but the two of us," her voice slowed down.

   "You must understand that we were moved by passion, and despair, and...perhaps," she nodded reluctantly with the hint of a blush, "we were... _both_ a little...overwhelmed, at the moment."

   Swallowing her shame, she gathered herself to continue.

   "Still, Link...I mean, the Knight, he— he swore many things that night, and I think I did too. He voiced his allegiance explicitly for the first time... I told him of my wound and my plans... "

   She softly bit her lips together, their plump flesh promptly rolling back outward.

   "I remember him voicing concern about the fate of the Surface world, but also on the seal that would keep the malevolent spirit of Demise imprisoned..." She lowered her gaze. "Yet, in the end, he decided to trust me. With it all. He made an oath of servitude in my name," she murmured in a voice almost timid.

   She blinked furiously for a while and Link's mind went all over the place, her admitted feelings flying in a silent mental storm. Adrenaline and confusion buzzed in his heart, distracting; he couldn't decide how he felt about the Knight...

   His lover —she was, right?— didn't take long to put herself back together once more.

   In fact she looked like she was struggling with bottled up feelings, and he suspected this to be the first time in more than a thousand years when she trusted someone enough to confide herself.

   He felt touched by the realization and the shyness and respectful distance his instinct kept enforcing in her presence suddenly lost its strength to keep him apart from her.

   Heart thundering, Link forced himself from letting emotion control his acts. Not because he was afraid of her mind, but because she needed space to remember and get the memories out. Hugging her wouldn't help with that.

   ...Besides, he had to parse all she had to say so he wouldn't express a reaction too premature.

   "My Chosen was mortal, I had grown selfish...and we both burned for a chance to be closer... So..." Her lips parted and trembled before her voice rose again; but a feeble whisper as she continued. "I-I used time magic to bind his soul to a body that was to be sired by the time Zelda would be born."

   Eyes open wide, Link opened his mouth but all sound died in it. Only a mute question lingered.

   "You are right," she whispered without needing to hear the words, "yes. ...It was yours."

   Link sat up with a jolt and refrained from shaking his head. Balancing himself, he breathed "And that was your doing..."

   She inhaled, and whispered the positive.

   A deep contemplative silence fell on his shoulders as up above, the sun began his descent, pouring dazzling color on the gleaming grass.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨Ʒ

   Link was barely bothered by the fierce rays while he contemplated the information she had given.

   In a handful of days, he had learnt that the girl that was his whole world had been even more. It turned that reincarnation didn't only happened in legends; a guardian goddess could engineer them if she wanted. A goddess who also happened to have had an adventure with his spirit... (And in more than one way.)

   These days had been an interesting marathon of discovery, for sure. He'd have laughed at its revelations if they didn't come directly from Zelda's mouth. He knew his childhood friend was still alive. He could see it if it peered deep enough in his lover's eyes...

   He tried to shake himself out of it. It wasn't the best moment to indulge in wishful daydreams.

   What Hylia had done to his spirit was certainly intrusive and perhaps even out of her league, for all he knew. He understood now what the Abhorred had meant calling him Hylia's puppet... It probably didn't even take to know the details to get the general picture. She had use him without hesitation. He wouldn't have minded if she had been honest from the start, telling him of her benevolent goals and the good his fealty would do to their people, just like she had to his predecessor...

   But instead she had just claimed what he would have been honored to provide. He had been clay into her hands. Link cringed and felt an elated intrigue tug at his heart at the same time.

   He frowned, being beyond confused by now, and even more so by his reaction to that thought.

   Zelda...Hylia wet her lips and blinked several times. She seemed dizzy with dread when she spoke again.

   "That is not all of it."

   Link's hand joints turned white around the edge of their makeshift table but he didn't rise his eyes to hers.

   "I thought you told me everything in the temple..."

   "I did," she answered evenly, with an insolent serenity. "On who I was and my plan to destroy the spirit struggling under the Seal."

   Link crossed his arms, but didn't move or protest, still too chocked to argue.

   "What I told you now, is about something else; feelings old, grown dim. Hopeless." she finished, last word a whisper. In fact, there is night to add here. The rest doesn't concerns your life nor your future in this world."

   "You speak in riddles." He frowned, as if scolding her, his tone low from hurt and disappointment.

   She shook her head and closed her eyes as pain and conflict weighted more on her features. "I can't freely speak of those memories. There is a forbidding about them. They do not concern..."

   "Concern who? Me? Mortals? By the...fates...answer me truly, Hylia," he asked, his grave voice both wavering and chiding, "please."

   His eyes flickered down, on the grass between them, to the fair slender hand that supported her frame and he almost jumped when her other hand reached out to his face.

   The dainty palm that fondled his cheek was warm, making it a little difficult for him to stand his ground...and before he registered it, his head was burrowing deeper into her hand.

   He closed his eyes and sighed.

   "You said his spirit has been passed to me, right? Then if any of you memories concerns me... _or_ him, ...I want to know."

   Hylia had already tempered with so much, and in ways beyond his understanding. He would be hard pressed to let her keep him in the blue about it too. ...Some lines could not be crossed without damaging the mind. And he wished —no— he _needed_ her to understand so much. (...Not just to be able to live with all of this but... _to feel like he was still a real person ... )_

   He wanted to lower his head to gather some resolve, but instead he held her peeling gaze straight on, as if wearing it long enough would convince her to trust him.

   "Please," he tried again, "tell me what else you have done, _Zelda_ ; all that remains," He didn't chose the name on purpose, though as it just came to him along when his desire to make her understand. Yet he nudged her hand unconsciously before he could balk against it. "It—it's normal to have a secret garden..." he added, partly because she had fell silent, partly to give himself something to focus on other than the warmth of her palm, or his fingers ready to tremble against the new callous of her dainty hand. "Your Grace." he finished, his bland tone making a point as his voice grew darker and he took his hand back.

   She had flinched at the adjective. It didn't alleviate her silence, but she drew herself a little higher, her gaze stern, more distant when she heard it.

   His right hand moved to his left mechanically before his conscious could register why gesture missed a weight. His magical shield was useless here.

   "I get that you don't want, or you can't share some memories... But—"

   "Enough."

   Her voice didn't come as harsh, nor with a flare of magic. It just sounded a bit exasperate, though and he blinked before remembering to shut his lips.

   "Enough," she commended silently, and this time he could feel a ghost of magical energy that slipped over his skin like a blanket, warm and soothing. "I heard you the first time, Link. I understand your point," she finally said, eyes closed and holding on a small sight. "But I needed to consider the implications of disclosing that kind of knowledge to you."

   The calming aura alleviated somewhat. He waited, trying not to add a couple more questions in the thin silence.

   "I will tell you."

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨Ʒ

  


   It was too soon; much too soon. Heaps of goodwill wouldn't provide an acceptable way to disclose the news at hand!

   Was it useful? Was it wise? It could only make him upset, feel needlessly helpless...

   It was something that she had had no right to do and would not be wise to speak of, even to him, yet. On the other hand, she didn't have the right to reason in that manner anymore. She was mortal herself, now after all. And...he wasn't exactly just a mortal anymore, either...

   She watched him with sadness, drawing her lips thin, a part of herself feeling like a little girl being forced to confess stealing a cookie.

   Her Chosen wasn't supposed to have so much power over her, she complained to herself. But she saw his balance himself on his feet and she knew she couldn't keep stalling forever.

   Her head lowered a little and she tried to still her heart once again.

   She would face the consequences of her decision. And she would do it without flinching from his gaze.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨Ʒ

   For the first time that he had finally known the whole of her, Zelda was overtly upset.

   She paced around him, the flowing of her long sleeves catching his sight and making him feel dizzy himself as she went round and round, arms cradled against her waist.

   "This is a matter in which neither your body nor your... _soul_ will ever be involved." She stopped in front of him. "Speaking of these things goes against all I've always known. If overheard by the wrong creatures, it can be as dangerous as a rift in the fabric of time. You should understand that I would rather not do so."

   Link nodded and crossed his arms. "I understand."

   Zelda sighed, her shoulders sagging imperceptibly as some of the tension eased from her stance, even though her face remained severe.

   "Good. The sooner we are done speaking, the safer." She closed her eyes and exhaled a deep breath, forcing herself at peace despite of the palpable dread all over her aura.

   "So... The Knight."

   She plopped down on the stone bench they had assembled to eat, her annoyance somehow heightening the grace ruling her movements.

   "As you know...you have been called after him. And that isn't a coincidence."

    _So despite her formal tone, she'd use contractions if annoyed..._ he noted, amused but trying not to be distracted by every new detail he learnt about her _new_ (or was it _old?_ ) personality. Link caught himself wondering at her before her voice pulled his focus back on her words. (...It seemed too happens a little too often.)

   "There is...a _vow_ my Knight undertook..." she finally revealed, her voice still trailing as if straining in the effort to reveal so much. "One of servitude beyond the bounds of his mortal life. It was a divine Oath, a very old custom of fealty that followed a magical ritual." She slowed down.

   "You certainly know that his spirit— _your spirit_ , has never been one to easily swayed."

   Her stormy blue gaze pierced him thoroughly, as if daring him to prove her point, to give her reason to stop. But all he saw in her eyes, as she talked of his predecessor, was the respect etched underneath. _Could a goddess regard a mortal like an equal?_ The intensity in her gaze as she talked of the Knight made him think so.

   "I..." eventually, her gaze smoothed out and her face almost showed a measure of humility when she went on, "was honored... _happy_ " she confessed, "to accept the value of this fealty, to validate it with magic," she said much softer. Yet I fear that I didn't express..."

   She shook her head here but he went curious, wanting to hear more about the part she left unfinished. However he kept silent, just in case she might change her mind and stop talking.

   He had not been there, living the war by their side, but even like that... He could feel that this woman with a soul as old as time had felt some form of love for the legendary Chosen.

   It was the only thing, he decided, that made Hylia's decisions less intrusive.

   "A-and so," she resumed talking, trying to tame a vibrant hesitation that halted her words; "using his Oath, I bound his spirit to this world for as long as my soul would tread within its confines. Your soul, at least, is free. But your spirit, along with your dormant memories are bound to wake again whenever needed...whenever called by my descendants. It has been marked by a sigil of divine servitude."

   She focused on him again.

   «In a few words," she paused, lowering her voice, "it made you what we would call a deity."

   Link blinked, a little dumbstruck.

   "It made me what?"

   Hylia smiled despite herself before taking a slow breath, making sure to keep his attention.

   "If one who possessed your spirit," she began low, "reiterate the Oath...when one with my blood feel strong despair, a fierce power will wake and shine white on your face. It should make them both complete each other as to balance the virtues required by the Triforce."

   "But..." she quickly added, breathed deeply, struggling as her heartbeat wanted to panic as judgment etched itself in his eyes; "but this, was not a decision I took alone. We did it together. In fact...it was his idea, at first."

   Her eyes shifted to his feet, feeling a ghost of shame at how her phrasing made her sound— _this was not a time for cowardice_.

   As she revealed more and more, Link felt the weight of these long past events and the shadows they cast. To be frank, they were bigger that he felt able to parse, and even more so too important for him to pass judgment on, whether he would have been or not in his right to do so. He was no more a fool than a child. Not in mind at least. For all the wisdom he like to consider his, he decided to refrain from affect judgment on his predecessor's choice. And from his Goddess' use of it.

   After all, it was too soon to see whether the consequences of this act would bring, either for the future incarnations of his spirit or for the worlds of the skies and of the Surface. What alone he could parse, right then, was her honesty. The fact she told him so much filled him with a sense of responsibility; greater than his understanding and yet not crushing.

   Still...it was difficult to imagine that a part of him had been that of another, than even their names were the same, and that there would perhaps be other, many others like this in the future...

   For all he had seen and lived through, he was content to be bound to Zelda. Even if the Zelda he knew was but a part of a whole. Even if their complicity was still...diminished...and might always remain so in this life... There would be _other lives_. This was an all—new concept for him, one whose consequences he could only vaguely outline.

   He could trust her still. He could understand why his people had took after the name. _Or why they called her gracious as well,_ his unconscious self-supplied, to his mild surprise. He fought against the rise of a strange smile that he couldn't really understand himself.

   "I explained him all of what my use of his Oath entailed," his friend pursued, "but he agreed to the whole." She drew her brows, her tone taking a scolding concern as she added "He was perhaps too selfless for a mortal." She sighed.

   "Still, I accepted his Oath," she trailed over, letting the memory of their unchangeable past settle again. "I strove to make best of it; to give a savior to his people and a hope for the innocent against the hatred of the Abhorred...I—"

   She turned toward him and her facade of confidence eroded under guilt. Her face was addressing a touching plea...he feeling his heart soften a little again because of her concern. Maybe she didn't only care for the Knight, after all. Maybe what she had said since the beginning was also addressed to him. He blushed a little about the idea but balked at the distraction.

   "I do not know what to think of it anymore. I can't be a judge for our decision. It is in the past now. It cannot be undone..." She coughed to conceal a gulp and her self-awareness.

   A couple of minutes passed before he took a deep breath. He had only really wrapped his mind around two thirds of it all, but he understood — he _understood,_ and she had trusted him with this knowledge.

   He returned her intense gaze filled with expectation and dread. His smile came unbidden and serene without forcing it.

   "Thank you."

   It seemed to render her a little speechless. Before she could ask, he told her that he understood. And he acknowledged her trust.

   She looked far forward right in front of her, a pinkish hue rising and fading slowly from her cheekbones as she found her bearings again.

   "At least," she whispered last, "every soul embraced by your eternal spirit shall remain free of the burden of reincarnation. You'll be a whole new person every time. Only the core of your personality and the bundle of dormant memories will remain through all of your vessels. The memories of all of your predecessors, adding themselves one after another. But they wouldn't be able to crush your, as only those you seek will come to your mind. The others will be housed and sustained by the magic I sealed in your spirit."

   He gave a firm nod and after a moment of nervous uncertainty, she sled her eyes downward, sideways.

   "You don't have to thank me. You had certainly deserved to know."

   "Maybe, but...you could refuse." He shook his head. "I...I know that you trust me with a part of your burden. Thank you for that."

   The incarnation of Skyloft's Goddess gaped. When she caught herself, blinking, she felt emptiness where words had always came without much difficulty to Zelda.

   "You..." She rolled a soft snort into a melodious laugh (he liked how her eyes now shone with levity). "I have literally shared half of by burden with you, beloved." Irony kept a sunny smile on her delicate mouth and...ah, no he wasn't at all letting himself distracted by the way she had called him. "After I realized that I was unfit to uphold the purpose of my creation alone."

   Even if seriousness crept and washed away the dimple of her cheeks, a resilient joy remained in her smile. "In a way, I renounced a part of my powers so you could share in them. I had to rely to one of those I was meant to monitor. Ironic, isn't it love?"

   "I'm glad you valued my... _our_ people," he nodded, his eyes searching hers; "enough to do it." (He smiled, a little more relaxed.) "I'm glad you trust me to watch your back. Even if it is just my spirit..." he snarked, mischief creeping on curving lips.

   She closed her eyes and sighed with mock exasperation.

   In the cozy silence, he flashed a blinding grin.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨Ʒ

   Hours later, despite of how much energy they had spent on working on their new lodging, Link still found himself wide away.

   The tone of his predecessor's romantic relation with Hylia made him wonder in more ways he wanted to admit.

   Sure it stirred surprise, but also understanding, and suspicion fought acceptance in his heart when he thought about that Oath the Knight had made.

   He should have found it shackling, have mourned a loss; the illusory freedom of choice was a fragile and precious value. He had never been very much fond of the idea of Fate. Yet.

   It was crazy and nonsensical, and...he wasn't sure he cared that much to balk against it.

   He could easily find purpose in the bound: it offered a clear and sound contrast to the hollowness he had felt from losing Zelda. From when he had _thought_ he would lose Zelda; when he had just realized that the girl that he loved beyond reason was a stranger in all but name.

   (Some rational part in him had indulged in denial then, sometimes even temped to frame the changes as the Goddess possessing his childhood friend.) He colored and evaded the thought. He had known it a lie. A wishful one. Childish, perhaps. But desperate.

   Now...

   A brief concern rose to his mind. For a millisecond of lucid foreboding, Link worried his lip. _He had not become codependent, had he?_

   The concern didn't last when he remembered the Oath. Another had given it for him and for all of their future successors. It was a done thing which made his worry a thousand years too late to consider. He chuckled, something in his mind making him unable to bring itself to care.

   Now, the thought of possession made him want to snicker and sigh at the same time: his Zelda was part of Hylia. And the woman-girl that was his lover and whole world was more than his childhood friend yet her powers were less than that of his Goddess.

   It seemed simple put into words, but his deeper mind still had to struggle to assimilate it completely, to understand where he fit in this incredible tale that his life had turned into in the span of a year.

   Now there was an urge; new and worrisome yet familiar, which shone in the back of his mind. It gently called for attention, pushing with askance at his heart. He didn't care to think about where it came from, just that it existed mattered now. It was a desire to uphold and bring something to a distant completion.

   As he found the depth and intensity of Zelda's eyes... (Yes, _Zelda's_ eyes) pulled at his core, wanted to open his mouth and say fateful things, dangerous words, very definitive words. There was a growing curiosity that embraced it and taunted his struggle. He wondered at the power she had hinted at, calling him a deity. He wanted to fight it, to test how far his freedom went, how far he could change things with his own will. And yet it was no more than a light challenge, amusement rather than despair or frustration. He didn't feel cornered at all.

   For two weeks, Link danced around of these feelings, getting more and familiar with them as he watched, loved his girlfriend...under Zelda, above Hylia, he could favor will or desire, control and oblivion. As days past with this tiny game, this satisfying illusion of freedom, of personal choice, he was content. Enough.

   Even if he couldn't seem to get enough of her, whether he held or left himself being held; working in tandem, on a tantric-like pace toward the shared pleasure of their nights.

   Many, too many silences grew in this indescribable gap, all along nurturing the shadow of a growing expectation. A need filling his chest painfully in a foreboding yearning.

   Eventually, the day he decided; the day fate broke his game, came, silent as a shudder.


	4. Fated Freedom

   By the end of the second week, when Zelda was nowhere to be seen, Link felt the use of magic like a very faint buzzing sound coming from afar.

   As every graduate knight of Skyloft, he knew there were those who were less receptive than others to magic, some being even unable to hear its currents at all.

   Zelda's never been too much lacking, but ever since she had woke up from the crystal in the Temple of Time, the aura it built around of her sounded like the cracking of a tiny lightening whenever she used it in his proximity. Sometimes, it was silent, yet dense enough that he thought he could almost _feel_ it as the caress of a silken sheet against his skin.

   This evening, when the sun set on the vast surface world, her magic was a distant but clear and familiar hum. At first, he followed it out of curiosity more than anything.

   When he found her by a small waterfall, playing with droplets of water, fireflies casting an eerie glow about her chest in the shadows of twilight, something, lurched forth in his throat and burned behind his eyes, making his legs fell infinitely heavy in his long brown shorts. Something thrummed against his head and he suspected that the bond was trying to kill him.

   He could dismiss it if he really wanted. He had learn to keep some measure of control on it and it only surprised him when he didn't pay attention. It was not so difficult to fight. Perhaps because he was aware of it. Or perhaps because nothing was threatening Zelda.

   Tonight, the vision she made couldn't look more serene and as he reveled in it, carefully committing it to memory, Link felt his inclination to fight the bond slowly vanish.

   He took a breath, dismissed a shudder, and reached a decision.

   Making his way to her as slowly as he could across the soft and damp greenery, he looked for a song, a poem, for words, any mean to explain without fumbling and making an emotional mess, this time.

   She looked so peaceful, unguarded... Disturbing that sight could almost have felt sacrilegious. (Thought he didn't understand why he was he reacting so strongly at first.)

   He waited a few dozen feet away, content to watch her play with water droplets suspended in air. She made the bubbles tease after fireflies and duck from those daring enough to give chase. There was a detached smile on her face, her rich golden tresses hung loose and tangled, many leaves and twigs caught in them. With her other hand she held a gardening pouch against herself.

   She began to hum a melody he had heard somewhere from a lyre... _Did it matter?_ He only breathed in her peace and the wonder of the moment.  
After a while listening to her song, he suspected that there was a bright goofy smile somewhere on his face. It felt better knowing that there were no one to see it; they were alone with the wilderness, no threat anywhere close.

   He sighed, more at peace than he had been in months suddenly, a small droplet of water fell, right on the middle of his head with a tiny splash that jolted him out of his daze.

   Zelda turned her head and her knowing smile looked guilty. She chuckled quietly.

   "Say, young man," she sassed, her round voice lowering for connivance, "are you a stalker?"

   After a pause, she swirled around and caught her hands behind her back to bend over waiting to see what he would retort.

   "I—" (He swallowed and fumbled messily.) "You know, I...about the Oath..."

    _Okay. Well. The first sentence could have been worst_. He peered into her eyes, trying not to look too enthralled. _Just a few more to go._

   "Sorry to stumble upon you like that...I feel like I have to tell you this without delay.

   Zelda shrugged, a sliver of curiosity edging her smile. "I'm all hears, now."

   "I wasn't sure until now," he began, resolutely, "but there is no doubt anymore about it for me." Link went on, "I can't be content to share this life with you."

   He gave her a crooked smile, half caught between nostalgia and sadness, mourning simpler days and more childish friendships.

   "I'm not sure we could be satisfied for long like that..."

   "I...see," Zelda responded.

   His smile froze in confusion when her features went blank. Her head turned away and she lowered her gaze downward, burning a hole in his ground as she drew herself a little higher rigidly.

   "I am...sorry," she offered awkwardly, her voice slowly thinning into a murmur. "Unfortunately I...am powerless to cut the bond."

   Her eyes unfocused somewhere beyond his head. "Would you ask for anything else, anything in my power," she trailed on, distractedly, "I would readily give you. I am afraid this is all I have to offer."

   He studied her for a second here, but shook his head before worry could stop him. Instead, he just continued, as if she hadn't spoken.

   "This bond is too personal," he said, "I can't accept that another mortal decided of my fate, of my heart."

   He came closer and delicately grasped her arms. With a smile, he sled his hand down to her wrists, and waited for her gaze to return to him. Then, moving with slow purpose, never leaving her eyes, he descended to set a knee on the grass.

   "For these reasons, I want you," he chose finally, "to accept a vow of my own."

   He felt rather sheepish, but seeing her features slackening in disbelief somewhat eased his pride.

   But a frown drew her brows.

   She reached a hand to feel his forehead for signs of illness.

   They both blinked.

   " _What?_ " she gasped, dumbstruck silly.

   The silence that ensued provided him with the purchase he needed to steady his demand.

   "Zelda," he wet his lips, considered, and began once more: "Hylia, there is something I want to tell you." There he paused and blinked, brows furrowed, before he shook his head. "No, it's more of...a vow I want to...to make by you."

   His face was scarlet.

   A moment past; more than long enough for every possible idea to come and go by Zelda's mind, filtering possibilities, trying to make something of this situation, pinning pieces together and sawing a semblance of picture.

   She blanched.

   But— _hehe_. No way. Ludicrous. (She tried to shrug the idea off her shoulder. It fell. Then it curved, flew back up, and slapping her square in her face for even thinking she could dismiss it.)

    _Still_...it felt just like an exaggerate fantasy. _(Nevermind that the intensity of her desire even made her feel similar to a Redead.)— _She sighed inwardly.__

   She watched the young man who knelt at her feet with a searing determination prickled with adoration. A thousand conflicting emotion passed on her face as she could feel the mask of confidence she had tried to keep together shook on its foundations. Even if he struggled to finish and get the words out, there was little doubt anymore in what kind of vow her Chosen meant to give.

   "Do you really understand what the Oath means?" she piped up before he could add anything decisive. "It's an indenture of service, unbreakable even by gods. It has already been made and should live on forever, as long as one of my descendants can inherit the holy Force of Wisdom..."

   "Yes. That is why I want to give you a vow that would be only my own. I would take the Oath with you, if you would have me."

   "If you renew the Oath," she spoke on, clearly more agitated, her face minutely going from pale to scarlet again. "Your _present_ self would renounce another part of your freewill! You would pledge your _heart and mind_ to me, to the name of a guardian goddess. You would grant Hylia the right to claim it on your death, to do with it as she pleases. Even before then, it would be my right, in the eye of the gods, to use magic freely on _your_ body or heart, for all the span of your life."

   She hesitated, something alike to frustration tightening the corner of her lips. "Some would think you're making yourself a thrall," she threw in and held her breath; only a silver of regret coming after the word had left her mouth.

   Link felt his heartbeat quicken at her words, a part of him just realizing how real this was, how definitive and big the devotion he was considering giving. He felt the burning concept, turning it over and over, embracing it slowly, cautiously with a solid and steadying sense of rightfulness streaked with trepidation. He shook his head and closed his eyes.

   "You know, it could be vexing that you're doubting my discernment so strongly..." His eyes returned to her and all amusement left his voice. "Or do you think me mentally ill? Lonesome enough to indenture myself to the first person I see?"

   She frowned but before she could protest he spoke again.

   "I don't care for what _some_ would say. The decision is _mine_ to make," he claimed the last part in a dangerous whisper. What she finally recognized as possessiveness now churned in his eyes, making his gaze burn into hers. The only she could decipher his expression was to call it an intense, threatening expression of devotion. Its very paradox awed her on the moment.

   Link lifted her hand and looked at it, barely managing to breath above the hammering of his heart. Still he bent his head down and rose her hand with both of his above of him.

   "And I _want_ to belong to you in all your names and purposes. ...If you will have me as your instrument", he added up and the shaking of her hand ceased then. Link slowly let go and set his forearm on his knee for support, peering up in her awed huge pupils.

   After he spoke and a heavy silence fell, the glint in his eyes suddenly flicked off. He blinked, as if surprised by his own outburst. Then his eyebrows rose with a mild worry.

   "If I renew our bond...it won't affect others to come after us, will it?"

   Zelda still stood transfixed when she finally broke the silence again to answer. She sounded calm but something in her stance, something hidden in the back of her gaze looked different.

   "Well," she said, looking for purchase, unsure what to do with her hand, careful not to touch his head, "The Hylia that was called Goddess is no more. As we are both mortals, we can't alter the Bond, no matter what we do."

   Link blinked down. When he looked up to her, he was grave. He nodded, a burning determination laced with desire filling his eyes. These feelings felt contagious to Zelda. They rose elation to her chest, alleviating some of her tension as she fought to dismiss how his gesture had flip-flopped her heart.

   Still, there was a fatigue that dimmed her magic. More than he had even seen since she had broken free— _hatched, a part of his mind supplied_ — from the crystal.

   He appraised her with warm eyes, willing to ease her surprise and share some of his peace of mind through their gaze alone.

   "It's okay," he whispered, smiling in apology. "I've been thinking about it for two weeks now. I'm sure about this. Just tell me what I have to say?"

   "Fair Nayru," she whined, "You wouldn't dare to use the Oath to make a point, would you? You would tell me if...you just wanted something a little more...different in bed, right?" The face she made could have been both frightening and comical, but the discussion was going nowhere and he sighed.

   "I-I've thought about this as well," he admitted with little bravado but soon shook his head. "This is bigger than desire, than anything physical...I-I think you feel it as well. Don't you...? Don't you want this as much as I do?"

   Zelda blushed, frowned, tight-lipped and seemed to freeze before he heard her voice.

   "I do," she whispered, and something in her eyes chilled him to the core, something bright and dark, a searing hunger and possessiveness that could have swept him off his feet as it rose a terror in her own voice.

   He swallowed and lost the sensations in his knees for a while. He had suspected — suspected a little that he couldn't be the only one to have the nondescript compulsion that yearning tugging at his very soul. Yet, when her blue eyes seemed to turn stormy.

   "I don't understand," she finally sighed, exasperated and out of arguments.

   She extended her magic to take the general feel of his mind and it felt so much at peace that she had trouble believing what they were discussing.

   "What could you ever get out of this Oath that you would be ready to renew it?"

   Link shrugged, an easygoing smile lifting his face. "Pride, honor, gratefulness, the joy of purpose?" His purposely grew a goofy smile, breaking a little more of her tension. "Eternal companionship, maybe."

   Still, the liens of her face were tight and she fought against a frown.

   "Very well; then, listen. If you take the oath of the Bond yourself, it would make me able to enhance your magic. But there will be a greater price to pay... If you take the Oath during your own life, it would make you mine— _completely_ mine in spirit, mind, body _and_ heart...until your death." Zelda shrugged impatiently and the familiar gesture gave Link some confidence in his decision.

   "Who can tell that I wouldn't become selfish or unjust over time?" she pointed calmly but her deep breathing and the tension in her shoulder told him how much she was afraid.

   "You wouldn't."

   He looked so sure.

   She fought a compulsion to shake her head in disbelief.

   "You would not let yourself," he affirmed still. This time she couldn't help but raise a brow but her Chosen simply shrugged.

   "There had to be a reason you were entrusted with this world... Unless the other goddesses you told me about were pretty drunk when they left our universe... You are too responsible to turn spoiled. I've watched you." He smiled sadly, looking down. "Sometimes...you behave like the world might crumble if you sighed too deeply..."

   She almost huffed. She stared skeptically at her childhood friend. When had he been hiding this sass before?

   He had not felt timid enough to suppress himself...perhaps her betrayal had changed things between them, she thought, more dim then. Yet...his trust felt raw, brash and foolish, even to her...and in turn, it made her feel ever more responsible for things...

   "You trust me this much..." she murmured with awe, still in her thoughts.

   "Only with every single part of myself," he smiled. But then he looked at her boots. "For the rest..." he scratched his neck, glancing aside and shifting on his feet for a second. "This bond...it's meant so we can work things out together, right? So I'm going to be here whenever you need it. Please, believe me, you don't h-have to struggle and worry alone, Hylia," he murmured softly, his voice as faint as a wish.

   Zelda fell silent for a few minutes and he waited for her. She drew a breath that felt like a gasp and had to fight a sob, closing her hands against his shoulders before they could shake again.

   "Thank you."

   "Yeah..." the young man trailed over, eyes shifting away. "I may trust you, but I'll question some of your choices at times," he shrugged. You're still one person...even if you were still a goddess I wouldn't expect you to have all the answers."

   She watched him in silence for a few minutes and he stood still.

   "You told me what to expect..." he murmured with affection and she nodded cautiously.

   "So..." she trailed, her curious eyes chasing answers on his face, "what brought this now?"

   His grin lost much gravity, quickly lightening as he shrugged. "Beside of the fact you looked mesmerizing when I saw you tonight?"

   He looked for words, faltered a little and blushed. "I didn't thought I could wait any longer," he admitted and it took long seconds before he found the courage to look at her again, after he felt her hand on top of his head, the touch so very delicate that he only noticed it when she combed through his locks.

   He was still red (and glad for the dim glow of the moon) when he added, muttering with uncertainty "Wasn't it designed to happen?"

   "It was made as a weapon of sort," she explained softly, her magic draping him in a warm soothing caress. "A means in addition to... to my sword. A much more dangerous weapon; something to call only to save lives. Not out of curiosity. Never a whim."

   He rose to himself to stand before his knees could protest painfully to the position and crossed his arms.

   "It may be our Bond that demands it," he conceded on a lower key than his usual tenor, "no more than an instinct of sorts. But it is _here_ and no less _real_. You can feel it, how strong it beckons? _Besides_ " he added before she could easily dismiss his point, "the renewal would be useful."

   At least, this made her pause, so he quickly gathered his wits to develop.

   "Peace never lasts forever. We've known that from theory and history lessons...but now your personal memories...your experience must confirm that...doesn't it?"

   He waited a little for the sake of rhetoric and nodded. "With or without the Spirit of Demise, it would be wise to have a way to protect those we care for." He watched her for a moment before adding, "...Otherwise, you wouldn't be considering it, would you?"

   Her eyes darted sideways back to him, pinning his skull with halfhearted annoyance.

   "Plus I don't have the sword anymore, so..." he shrugged, quickly overwriting his vexing rhetoric, even if the slow airily gesture might undermine his efforts to sound serious.

   A placated smile came to her lips. After a while, she looked at the fireflies that flew in haphazard looking pattern in the lowest branches of nearby trees.

   "Very well," she paused, a dreamy air on her face, "my Knight." She waited still but when he remained silent, she went one, finally accepting. "I'll tell you of the Oath... But I won't hear about it before the morn. You may have decided this in fourteen days, but I did not. I have to ready myself."

   "Yes, —" he piped up, then not finding how to call her right now, he filled on with "of course!"

   Sometimes one name fit better than another, and sometime, neither did. Then, the titles that could fit still sounded out or place and those who didn't sounded bigger even than them two. It felt more inconvenient than truly confusing, though.

   "Good," she murmured, and she looked for a seat. In a movement that looked quite practiced, she crossed her legs under herself on a sleek stone by the water.

   "There is no exact phrasing, but some specific vows have to be said out loud. I can write down for you...what _he_ had said, if you'd like."

   Link nodded and she responded, mirroring the gesture.

   "Then," she continued, "Accepting your pledge will require two steps from me. First, I'll have to draw blood and you will drink. Just a droplet should be enough. Then, I'll have to use magic on you."

   She searched her memory some more.

   "In time," she ventured, "indentures of ownership were sealed by the piercing on an ear." She paused. "...I remember having drawn a sigil with my lifeforce on him...a blue crest that glowed on his forehead." She turned to Link, the intensity of her gaze focusing on his present self again.

   "Not the symbol carved in the temples, but my personal insignia, embed permanently on your forehead. No blade nor fire could erase it. It would be etched much deeper than flesh."

   He shook his head again and she took comfort in his unwavering determination.

   "Once set on you, this sigil will wake the deposit of magic that I had long lain within your spirit."

   "Let us go and sleep early tonight. I want to reflect on this," she affirmed and he could tell she hoped he would the same himself. "Remember that you are free to change your mind anytime. Even if it's just for more time. If we can wait..."

   What was there to wait for? He sighed and she halted, then just nodded. He turned her a grateful smile and drew her in his arms for a kiss.

***

   On the eve of the second day after their discussion, Link found himself walking out of the temple before the rise of the sun.

   The ceremony of Confirmation —as she had named it on the note she had written for him— was to begin at the break of dawn. At least, that was what the paper said.

   He hurried along the path to a small waterfall, where Zelda was probably already waiting for him, trying to cast the last fogs of sleep from his head.

   Hylia sat cross-legged on a huge stone at the top of the same waterfall where they had decided to meet.

   She had spent the previous day and two nights reminiscing all that has happened since Demise's defeat. Before and after her childhood best friend has begun to call her by two names.

   When she processed it, it was almost surreal how he meant so many different things to her. This fact had been fueling her possessiveness for him, not only for his unbreakable sprit, but also for his mind, his heart, even his body. She loved him in more than one way, more than two in fact...and it was precisely why she was unable to stop fretting about what was about to happen.

   She couldn't phantom losing him, but she also couldn't bear with the idea of violating his freedom. In all the ways she wanted him, she had no desire to shackle him.

   ... Metaphorically speaking.

   On another hand, Link had shown a lively interest in the process of the Oath, and he might become angry with her if she kept thinking like this. He had never been one to follow orders blindly, neither when they disagreed with his heart, nor when they upset him. He was strong willed and much more level headed than he appeared.

    _Especially on mornings,_ she conceded, her smile frail.

   She could understand. Probably. Partly. He had told of a need to appropriate his destiny...but she had been the one to define it for him. So repeating the process was going to make her conscience uneasy.

   She hardened herself concentrating of the present.

   ...Had Link asked for this back then —when he had just returned and seen through her— she would have been incapable of going through with the request.

   But time had passed since then... By sorting their wounds, apart and together, they had grown, changed; the grim days following Groose depart no longer weigthed between them...

   He could have returned to Skyloft at any moment and exposed everything to her father. Yet, even while he had been upset, Link had stood with her. He had watched her back, kept her company...

   He had given _Zelda_ a part of her hope and life back after eons of memories and a cripple to her soul at the hands of the Abhorred and his sword-spirit. In a way, Link had brought that naive, precious part of her back to life, she mused, a slow smile growing obliviously on her lips.

 _Besides, now..._  She colored faintly, staring at the end of her sleeve.

   Hylia's knight didn't seem intimidated nor distant when he groaned her name in her ear, taut frame pressed against her back as she shook on her forearms; the lover who smiled up at her under sheet and cover had nothing nervous or hesitant either. ...Not even the first time she had brought him to bed without a word and saddled him, devouring his lips without a second thought to have him to her heart contents. (To her defense, she might have waited longer if he had not kept flashing her shy smiles that flushed the loveliest shade of pink whenever caught. ... So much for taking things slow. Then he has locked his arm around her neck, crushing her to his frame in a vice—like grip. His tears had run, wet silver trails faintly glistening in the darkened temple and she remembered how hard she had fought in order to remain strong. For him.

   Well... She could not just consider her feelings anyway: he had expressed his will. She had no right to doubt him...no reason to deny him the ritual.

   She had accepted his decision. ... She did! ... In _theory_.

   Because there was also the matter of how every fiber of her being had _precisely wanted this_ from some turning point as she slept in the crystal...and the matter of how the intensity of her desire worried her... It blurred things, blinded her in some measure. And her inner voice kept prompting her: _what if she was just projecting on him, and Link simply didn't realize it, or worse, didn't mind? Out of love perhaps._

   Zelda stuffed one of her apple bun in her mouth and chew on her frustration, glaring at the skyline.

   This had to be solely _his_ will.

   She closed her eyes, nodding inwardly. She would make sure of it.

***

   For all of her efforts to steady her resolve, Hylia was well on her way to a headache when finally, to her relief, she found Link approaching the waterfall.

   Her Chosen emerged from the canopy of trees and she watched him round up the water and start to climb.

   By the time he reached the top and found his breath again, she put down her sweet buns and took a deep breath to still her heart.

   She took a peek at his figure from the corner of her eyes as he stood behind her, pawing off moss from his bangs, exasperated at the offending debris. She didn't notice it when the corners of her lips rose a notch, alleviating her unconscious frown. Just like that, her headache was forgotten.

   Hylia drew a deep breath and closed her eyes. Then she put her hands on her neck, hoping that her cold fingers would help clearing her mind.

   Rising to her feet, she lowering her hands to her tights, permitting herself only the tiniest of smiles as she greeted him.

   They stood, facing each other. Suddenly the distance between them felt immense, serious. It weighted with the very gravity she had striven to dispel these recent days.

   Instinctively, she inched back to the bundle of sweets behind her to present him a bun. But she reminded herself with the purpose of their meeting.

   She folded her hands together and taught herself to accept the tension. For a minute, she perused his body language, looking for something off-tune, anything that could give ground to her fears.

   "Do you still want to follow in with the ritual?"

   Link gave her a firm nod. "Yes. I have made up my mind."

   The calm strength of his voice enveloped her, echoing into her bones. She nodded pensively.

   "Have you brought the tools?"

   He untied a strap from his chest and lowered a small bag that he jarred open. She saw an ornate dagger and a handful of stamina sprouts in there. Those were the items she had listed along with her indications she had given him on a paper the previous day. Technically, only the dagger was required, but the cliff on top of which they had decided to execute the ritual was a hard climb. And while her newfound magic allowed her to levitate on short distances but Link's didn't. She had to make sure that his mind was clear and his body serene when they did this.

   She nodded for herself and her gaze shifted to her fellow mortal. Right where he crouched, a deep yawn shook his lean frame, almost tipping him off.

   He put an open palm against his mouth, which only highlighted his surprise and he turned pink under his blond bangs.

   Zelda's brows rose and then narrowed together. She hoisted her hands on her hips and leant toward him.

    _She knew it!_ She swallowed and bit her cheeks. Her hand closed, shaking with the pressure.

   She fought an urge to untie the sailcloth at her waist and jump down the waterfall to run somewhere dark where she could just feel miserable about her selfishness.

   Instead, she glared at him and raised her chin.

   Her voice came out cold, emotionless.

   "For such a ceremony, there can't be any error. I will not accept an oath that may not be made in a lucid state of mind."

   She smiled sourly.

   "Fortunately, I know of a temple that greatly improves concentration."

    _Has she gone a little far?_

   At the word temple, something flickered on his face. "Am focused now!" he claimed, his gaze more alert that he had been all morning.

*

   He stared at her with shock.

   The shadow of a smile crept over her hard face. Though he never suspected any form of sadism in his goddess (... any _real_ form of sadism, he amended), and wondered if he had heard her well.

   "Your _Grace_?" he stressed out with some measure of outrage.

   He had rushed through most of the temples, bearing the prices for this on his body...and fortunately lacking time to dwell on the gores, or on his secret fears, or to despair because...because he knew she was running ahead. He thought about this for a moment but soon shook his head. Zelda's past motives didn't matter right now.

   Still she joked.

   Never would he have imagined even Hylia... Yet her tone, her... It made no sense. Why by the four winds would she do this now?

   Hylia was silently watching him, and her eyes felt like those of a hawk peering at him. As he slowly began to suspect her to have a hidden purpose behind these words, she held her hands and nodded.

   "I am glad to see you fully awake."

   Link stared beyond her shoulder, unable to move for a while.

   "Remember it's not too late to back out," Hylia reminded him gravely, a clear cut from her pretense at despondency. "I will always believe in you, Link. No matter what. So..." she held his gaze and thinned her lips, giving up.

   Realization hit Link like lightening. He lowered his head and stared a hole into her feet to deal with the shock.

   With a deep breath and a silent promise to make her pay for this last test tonight, he swallowed his doubts with a defiant sigh and drew himself high. Eyes narrowed, resolution filled his bones as he picked a sprout from the bag.

   He bit the fruit, crunching both the sweet flesh and the nutritive nut; he swallowed. Now that any remnant of sleep had been cast off from his body as well, he faced Hylia again.

   Still, he struggled not to stammer... He recalled the words of the Oath his predecessor had made, and the ones he had chosen for himself, this time.

   "Long I have looked for you, Your Grace."

   She fell silent, her face inscrutable again. "And why have you come to me?"

   "I have come to offer my live to the divine guardian Hylia, Goddess of my people."

   Hylia didn't answer.

   Link knew her to be still hesitant. He proceeded following with the vows he had memorized and rehashed in his head since the previous day.

   "Today I pay—I _pledge,_ " he corrected himself and drew a quiet breath, trying to still his shaking fingers— "my will...in the servitude of the Goddesses. To their blessed guardian, Hylia, I give free use of my body and my mind," he said, his voice resounding with a quiet, serene confidence. "From now on," he went on, "let them be a shield, a vessel and a weapon; let my blade never draw blood but to serve you; bless me and make me the instrument of your justice."

   Her hand touched his lips and he sank to his knees, slowly as to not break contact with her fingers.

   "You have spoken, loud and clear. _Hylian_ , I heard your Oath," she paused searching his eyes, "and I accept it."

   She lowered herself down the time to seize the dagger in the bag and stood again. With it, she drew a shallow cut in the palm of her left hand and brushed off the blood still of the blade. Then she presented him with her bloodied hand. Unsure of what to do — the paper didn't specify if he had to remove every trace of blood or just touch her cut with his lips. Well.

   He just touched it at first but when she did nothing to take her hand back, he furrowed his brows. The more he waited, the more blood would poor from the cut anyway. And he felt uneasy seeing the rich carmine shade on Zelda's dainty hand. Link took her wrist in his two hands and carefully licked her palm clean, unconsciously adding pressure on the wound to slow the pouring.

   When he let it go, faintly blushing, he didn't catch the itch in Zelda's breath. Hylia's voice beard no trace of it as she spoke again, resuming with the ceremony.

   "Your body is now the vessel of my will. Your powers will be as one with mines. You will not only be my shield, but my weapon as well. By the rules of the Three Ladies, of all the beings that exist on this world, you will serve me and me alone."

   Then she concentrated energy in her finger and drew on his forehead as she talked.

   "To this world I bind your spirit, as long as my fate will tread within its confines...so shall it. Let our souls intertwine along the roads of this life. This is the path you have chosen for yourself."

   Her finger left his skin hovering a few seconds before settling down against her thigh.

   His forehead felt still buzzing under the freezing cold of her finger. Soon enough, the sensation seemed to sink and he didn't feel it anymore. The pull of his Bond felt completely silent now. Sated.

   He blinked, still expecting something, anything magical to change in him. He felt both placated and disappointed when none did.

   Then he smelt her hand. It was a combination of scents, both naturals and engineered, mixed with the taste of her blood; a unique blend that he would easily recognize her by as it could not belong to any other. He wondered where that had come from. How could he even identify a smell so precisely?

   One second after the scent reached him, Zelda's hand rose to fondle his hair.

   Link brows rose skeptically as he watched the grass with a newborn's eyes. There had never been so much detail to the textures around of him. He strained to listen to faraway sounds and chuckled in amazed delight. He was pretty sure his sense weren't that keen before. Not all of them, not with that much precision.

   Before he could ask, he heard Hylia voice above.

   "You were my Knight and my Chosen. But now you are my instrument," she murmured affectionately. She gazed at him amorously for a while until he shifted on his feet, brushing the nape of his neck. "My love?"

   He looked up, unable to part with a tiny smile that shone with a newfound kind of satisfaction.

   "There is something I want to ask of you as per rights of our new status." She smiled in her turn. "It's nothing dangerous! But I will tell you of it this evening... Okay?" she added, fidgeting discreetly.

   Link fought not to wince and chided himself. Why did he react negatively? She had just said it would not be dangerous...yet, why would she hides it until this evening, then?

   He drew a breath and closed his eyes, shaking his head at himself inwardly.

   Zelda, Hylia hadn't done anything harsh since he had known her. For all of her defaults — and Hylia did have her lot, even more so than Zelda (but given that she was her as well, perhaps it had been a bit expected)— well.

   For all of them, in the last days, she had been sorry, repentant, accepting, patient, supportive, both a bit more gentle and passionate than he had imagined her before all this, too...

   All in all, not once since then she had given him reasons to be wary of her. (... _Okay,_ he amended, _none_ serious _at least_.)

   He had not only trusted her with his all because of their Bond, or because his choice couldn't change what had already been done years ago. Had it been the case, he would have not felt completely content. No, he would have felt miserable for too many reasons...; if he could have decided to give himself to her, it was because he deemed her able to be trusted this much.

   Then, he couldn't behave like he hadn't meant it. No.

   There was no longer any place for doubt or fear of Hylia in his world. Besides, thinking otherwise would be rendering everything he had done meaningless.

   For these reasons he _would not_ worry.

   (Or so he told himself.)


	5. Sewing Over Silences

   After everything had been said and done, they began to pack up. But the day was bright and the weather nice; the top of the waterfall too beautiful that neither found the heart to climb down so soon. They decided to enjoy the sights of the Surface word from there for a little longer.  

   The peak was not really towering, yet tall enough for strong breezes to ploy the thick grass and rare bushes.

   Completing this physical refreshment, the roaring of the water soothed the mind in a lovely rhythmic.

   There they ate the rest of Zelda's apple buns together, each a little distracted by their thoughts, reflecting on what they had done and how it would affect their magic.  

   Link laid on the grass watching Zelda's figure; her relaxed profile as she sat, on the same rock where he had found her.

   With her legs crossed beneath her and her wrists laid on her knees, hands hanging above the stone, her mind seemed lost faraway in the sight of the hard blue skies.  

   A moment passed in the companionable silence. Their empowered magical energies floating in thin swarms around of their bodies, only recalled to his senses by a very faint fizzing.

   The moment was so serene that Link had completely forgotten there was a cut across her palm. His eyes popped out when he remembered, sitting up like a bolt. Supporting himself on his hands, he inched toward her and bend precariously, trying to get a view of her wound.  

   Unable to catch her eyes, and unable to just let it sit, he decided to ask.

   "Zelda? Please let me see your wound."

   The girl blinked a few times before coming back to herself and she raised her other hand as if she only remembered having cut it with a dagger now. Zelda gripped her wrist to keep blood from falling, then she rose to her feet. Turning toward her lover she crouched and offered her hand, elbow supported on her joint knees.

   Link frowned seeing crimson droplets continuously course down to the back of her hand. The fierce crimson gathered on her skin spill lazily down to the grass, droplets disappearing between them and into the earth.

   He kept his annoyance to himself but thought no better of the ritual.

    _Has hurting herself been essential?_  

   He only realized that he had mumbled his thought aloud when her voice answered him.

   "Yes, my heart," Hylia answered, matter-of-fact. "I don't know if just prickling myself would have been enough." Then her face lost her gravity and he saw Zelda pout instead. "I admit this does make a mess, though..."

   He rummaged a little in the bag he bought, then sighed.

   "I should have thought to bring a life potion as well..."

   "It's okay," she assured, and sled her other hand in her back. After rummaging a little, she drew a grey bandage from under her collar. Her breasts bounced a little at the effort; _he blinked off the movement from his mind as much as he could._  

   "Better to have this small piece to wash rather than my dress," Zelda explained with an innocent smile as she began to pass the cloth that she used to bind her breasts around her open hand. She tied the ends tight together before she folded the greasy paper of her apple buns and slipped it in the fold of her belt. 

   "What are you waiting for?" she chipped and jumped with her sailcloth before he could over-think about her cut.

   Only once they were safely on their feet, below the waterfall, Zelda abruptly stopped and poked herself on the head.

   She whirled so quickly that he started. Then he tilted his head in a mute question when she circled him, braced herself with her bandaged hand on his shoulder and tiptoed to reach deep into the bag strapped to his back. He barely managed to take her wrist to stabilize her when she moved, coming back around with the stamina potion.

   At his bemused expression, she gave him a wink before she drank a little and handed it back. Then she had uncovered her bandaged hand and drew a breath.

   Her magical energy floated in crystalline colors around of her, a peak of the raiment flying to her palm. There it flown in the cut and Link watched as her skin and flesh minutely knitted together. There was barely a pink blemish in place after she let her magic fade away.  

   Without word, Link took the bloodied binding from her other hand and, minding himself before he could breathe it in, he bundled it and put it in his bag.  

   They nodded to each other and proceeded to leave the waterfall. As they walked, Hylia grabbed his hand and held it tight.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨Ʒ

   Link spent the rest of the day outside, walking and exploring the world through new paths, trying to wind off the mental stress of the last weeks. He had chosen his destiny and that of his heirs himself this time. There would be no regret, no more hesitation, no more worry. He needed his body to understand as much and for now that meant exhausting it under the warm rays of the sun.

   He had considered the plans he had made with Zelda about an abode for the two of them. They had begun drawing them some days before he told her of his feelings about the Oath...but right now he couldn't simply sit on a stool and manage to focus.

   He wanted to move, he needed to act.

   And that he did. Hylia had told him about some changes that would occur, but she had warned him against these newfound powers. Their sudden strength could easily bring him a little overboard if he didn't keep his head leveled. Yet, for now, he only felt a deep and calm elation. It gave him the impression of gliding above ground instead of walking.

   Besides, the more he contemplated things around of him the more it seemed to him that he was discovering them with newfound senses; everything seemed brighter, louder, keener...

   ...Easier.

   But maybe it was just his imagination — what with his bright mood; the Bond seemed to sing inside of him, echoing victory and preeminence. His head felt light enough to float in clouds.

   Only now that it had changed, Link realized that the Bond had always been influencing him in tiny ways. As long as he remembered, there has always been a faint but constant itch amplifying his feelings when he was close to Zelda, it resulted in an almost constant, yet intangible desire to get closer to her in a way he couldn't place. Now that this desire had been sated, the young hero felt only peace.

   Yet, even though he refused to admit it, a part of him had been slightly surprised...perhaps a tad bit disappointed that the change had not been more...pleasant? Colorful? _Tangible._  

   But the day was still young, and so was their years together, united by the new state of their bond...

   Besides, there was now a large blue sigil on his forehead.

   It didn't even itch, now. In fact it felt just like normal skin. It would take some time to get used to the new face he had seen in Zelda's mirror at the temple. It was big, it was blue (pale blue but still blue), but before he could mind, there had been a sense of pride with the sight of his sigil, and it had only fueled his elation further.

   The elation wasn't violent. But it remained constant, empowering, grounding. Before long, Link wondered why he had waited two weeks before accepting the Oath.

   Thank to choosing it on his volition, he was no longer the pawn of a forced destiny. He was free to be with the goddess of Skyloft in any way they might want. As soul mates, as lovers (...maybe even friends?...)

   But this mattered little now, he told himself, eager to be rid of the idea.  

   He might not completely be able to stop mourning the connivance he had once shared with Zelda. Even so, their new bond, this deep soulful devotion to her now filled his heart instead— numbing what it couldn't quite sooth, resorbing regrets into nostalgia.

   The price for it had been beyond words, yet he had found a tie and an intimacy stronger than time or names. What remained what that they could never be separated. He smiled, a little gullibly at the sweet-sour pool of feeling he had about Hylia and shook his head.

   They sat to eat together. And for the first time that he watched her face, knowing her new — no, her _old_ name; for the first time since the crystal, Hylia's expression looked completely unguarded.

   With heightened senses, Link committed every detail he could catch to memory. He felt the passive aura of her magic suspended around her, so very faintly fizzing against his skin... Before today, he would only have felt a faint forecasting of her mood —if she had a strong emotion, or if she was using magic purposely— but now, the touch was much more defined, so clearly hers and it read with her happiness.

   ...Along with something more...in the background. _Like a hidden intent?_ He focused again and lifted his face to her, smiling softly.

    _Yes._  

    _There it was._

   For as short a time as he had been able to face her, Hylia had used to hold his gaze longer than _his_ Zelda, the Zelda of before the crystal, would.

   Yet, now that he was looking for it, he noticed that she seemed to be treading on eggs still, as if trying to give him some room for himself. Before he could ponder on her reasons, Link closed his eyes.

   He was having the best day of his live, and he wanted to enjoy it to the end. She would tell him if something was amiss.

   They discussed a little of everything; Instructor Owlan wanted more surface plants, Karane and Pipit had decided to begin exploring the continent below from their Loftwings. (Walking on solid ground was still too weird a concept for many on Skyloft).

   They grinned, laughed together throughout dinner; they felt alive, silly, and made themselves a little more than merry.

   Then the sun set.

   Link gathered his tools and brought them to the temple as the first raindrops of autumn greeted the green lands.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨Ʒ

   They were back from a freezing shower, and they had saved enough water for their needs and for her small gardens that grows at the foot of the Tree of Life. They sit on their linked cots, wrapped in sky blue comforters they had brought back from Skyloft along the rest of their things.

   "Link, I would have you undress and lie besides me." Hylia says with a smile.

   "Sounds good. These comforters aren't that useful, are they?" he commented lightly as he began to undress.

   "I am not cold," Hylia whispered as she undressed herself, yet her voice was too small for him to pick it up.

   She scouted closer and rubbed her hand together before shedding her cover and rubbing her palm up his arm to encourage him in following suit.

   They piled the comforters atop the steps and slipped in their jointed cots, silently sharing body head for a while.

   When he became sure his teeth wouldn't shake if he opened his mouth, he grinned mischievously.

   "So, will you tell me what you wanted me to do, Your Grace?"

   Hylia smiled back. "Don't call me that."

   "Why? Do you plan to do something not very gracious?"

   She snorted lightly, and somehow managed to make it ladylike. He raised a brow, waiting for her answer as she wet her lips, still somewhat nervously.

   "Can I watch you?"

   It took him a good minute to understand, and another then, to find his bearing. When he did and her request clicked together, his face slacks with a frown. A sad anticipation made him lick his lips. Suddenly he wanted to run away but the rain his hammering the ground outside now and he felt almost cornered. Instead, he frowned.

   "Zelda..."

   "You have sworn," she reminded him, weighting the words, her voice low but hopeful, "that your body, your mind and your heart belonged to me." Despite of the emotion shaking it, her voice was even, if not completely so.

   "I want to see _them_."

   "Why?" he whined, looking at his feet, his grip on the comforter wavering a little.

   "Because I want to know everything about you. And because I am responsible for them. I will not hide from their sight."

   He would have disputed her claim, there, but arguing was the least thing he wanted to do at that moment. Annoying the only other person able to provide body heat in a huge freezing temple didn't seem wise. They had never seen snow on the Surface so far, so they had only one small stove to fight off the cold winds that swept under the large doors.

   Link felt an impulse to turn around and hid under his pillow. He clenched his hands, itching with the petty longing.

   "Zelda, I...I—"

   "Zelda?" she repeated as if he had chosen the wrong name. She had never shown a preference in the way he called her before. "Beloved," she murmured, yet her voice filled the air with power — he wondered if she purposely used magic to do that — "can you trust me? ...I promise not to overreact," she supplied afterward, looking away.

   The first time they had forgotten to shut the lights and she had seen his body naked, the scars had taken her by surprise and it took her hours to stop the tears that kept running on their own. Needless to say, it had thoroughly killed the mood. Since then, he had always managed to keep his body from her view. She never dared to bring it up, because it had meant too much. But now he had given her his Oath; had claimed to trust her with all that he was high and clear...

   He sighed briefly.

   There were many reasons for him to keep his scars from her view. Sparing her the guilt was just one of them...

   "Then, Link, I will rephrase this for you," Hylia offered carefully, treading a warm hand in his locks, lifting them from his forehead when the faint mark of her sigil stood in pale blue. Then she palmed his cheek and touched his jaw as her magic flared around of her to meet his skin again, both threatening and promising safety.

   Link closed his eyes and pouted before he could realize it. Maybe it wasn't such a big deal, after all. She already knew what to expect, and she actually had asked to see them.

   Hylia caught his pout with her mouth and willfully proceeded to eat his lips.

   "You are mine," she whispered then, between gentle bites. "Every span of skin on your body, every sound from your lips, and every scar in your mind," she silently sneaked her way down his hip and put a hand on him — "is mine. But I will be content to see only those of your body, tonight."

   She hovered above his face, the warmth of her breasts grazing bellow his throat, and she smiled rather coldly.

   (But he was her knight and her Chosen and her instrument even, now, he repeated for himself. As such his spirit was the only one of this world capable to truly know the heart of Hylia.)

   The tools she made of her expressions has little effect on him anymore. (Now, he knew why she concealed her magic at these times; the full warmth of her heart having nowhere to hide but in the ethereal folds of her raiment...)

   "I hope this will make your mind," not acknowledging that he stood mostly unfazed.) "If it doesn't, I might as well not ask, right?"

   With that, she lifted a hand. Nearby, the lantern they kept close as their only source of light slowly rose quietly in the air. Watching it move, Link's brows darted up. AS if it was used to it, the lamp simply floated closer. Gliding down on thin air, it gently landed on the cot, by his head.  

   ...

   Link wasn't sure of the limit of her magic and the possibilities felt overpowering. He felt well cornered, and the only logical answer, at the moment was to submit.  

   Unconsciously reaching that simple conclusion a rare peace filled his mind as serenity and expectancy held his body. The warm flush it rouse in his heart was of little importance anymore. He let go, a warm smile coming to his face.

   "Yes, Your Grace."

   She sighed, her blue eyes alone twinkled with fondness amidst of her schooled face.

   Link bit his lips and took a deep breath as his grip relented on the covers, letting her slowly straddle him and sit on his tights, bringing the cover down with her.

   She stood silent, eyes roaming, head barely moving yet, as he held his breath. Eventually he decided to peek and chance a glance at her face.

   There was a strong contrariety pained there, but nothing close to the crushing regret that had cut him back then. ... She didn't feel as sad as he expected either and that surprised him somewhat. He still felt uneasy under her scrutiny. And yet, he observed, barely surprised with Hylia anymore; yet it also felt somewhat enjoyable to be watched if it was by her.

   Before his face could color, washing off his bravado, Link turned his head away from Hylia, pretending to take a sudden interest in the Tree of Life —yes, planting that tree in the temple had a most fruitful idea.

*Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨Ʒ*

   With a sour face, Hylia bit her lip, closing her eyes. Even behind her eyelids, the scars kept glaring at her.

   Accusing, they ran, these pale streaks on Link's tanned skin and her face turning dim. She cringed silently.

   Next thing, she made a promise to herself: _She would never let go forgotten the prices he had paid;_ the price a _mortal_ had paid to finish her own duty! She closed her eyes and smothered the pang of guilt.

   Without words, she touched the tips of her fingers to the smallest scars. Her gestures were slow, attentive; _reverent_ as she grazed the faint narrow blemishes.

   She did so first with her eyes, then her fingers; soft tips gliding down, testing definition and texture; and when skin feedback met its limits, her lips told her more.

   She learnt about them all, one at a time; first with her eyes, then her fingers, then with her lips.

   Those most healed, those sleek to the touch she probed with her tongue, learning of their sensitivity.

   There was also an infinity of tinier scars. And then there were much larger ones, all soft by now, completely closed.

   She recognized the effect of a well brewed life potion when she saw it, and they usually didn't leave any trace of wounds...not when they were used in the days following the injury at least... The simple existence of these scars was more than met the eyes. Her gaze carefully swept up to his shin carrying an inquiry...but she didn't lift her head.

    _One thing after another._

   Once she was content with his back, she examined the expense of his body still offered to her sight. _Chest, flanks, throat, face, arms and legs—_

   Most of Link's scars were deeply set into flesh and muscles, along with knots of fractured then roughly mended bones. All those he had neglected to tend after in time now marked his body, like a defiant testimony to his adventure and the sacrifices it demanded.

   She resented the foes, the traps, the tools, and the smallest things that had blemished her Chosen, but most of all, she felt a surge of indignation at whatever had made him decide to neglect his own...

   She paused.

   She balked at the tempest of emotion until each was reduced into a tamer, familiar stream of dormant possessiveness.

   Distracted from the situation, she left her touch get more teasing.  

   He took a deep breath and she remembered what she was doing.  

    _Well..._ There was so much his body could endure without coming to attention, and as minutes passed, and her lips and fingertips woke ribbons of nerves across his chest, neck and tights. Finally, he couldn't keep a gasp and shifted, embarrassed.

   "Lift your hands where I can see them."

   Hylia's deep voice resonated in Link's head, waking him from a slow daze he didn't notice falling in. (She could hear their echo and the swirl of his forming thoughts just as well as she could sense his dormant magic, now...)

   She rose to reach his head.

   She took his jaw in the palm of a hand, tenderly brushing his bone definition, but her gaze was cutting, as two stones of biting blue ice; a trace of mischief danced somewhere behind the gravity of her expression. Link didn't quite know what to think of that until she spoke again; "This ritual serves a purpose. So, focus."

   "On my voice, if you want," she guided on an afterthought.

   When she returned her attentions to his waist, she got acquainted with the story of his last and direst wounds.  

   "I knew your body before you were born. There will not be a singly trace that would last without my knowledge. That would be unacceptable for what you call a goddess."

   She voiced her thought as an anchor both for him and herself because guilt swarmed still in the back of his heart.  

   She lifted her eyes to fix him.

   "Do you think I shouldn't think in that way, now that I am mortal?" There is only a challenge at the end of her words. _To what extend are you willing to serve me?_ She had to ask; because even though she didn't have to nurture the whole world anymore, the sake of all of them and the fate of the Triforce still remained on her shoulders. And she would need his support even more from this life on.

   There were too many layers of meaning in the silences around their words and touches in the moment. Slightly overwhelmed by it all, his wit only provided him with a slight flush to the back of his cheeks. _(Quite helpful; really.)_

   "I—I think you should continue," he whispered despondently, "—but maybe making it quicker, please?"

   Not feeling like smiling anymore she just nodded. And holding his gaze just one more second, she finally returned her focus to his waist.

   Arresting her sigh on the thickest scare, she narrowed her eyes, hiding her distress. As much as she loved the skin which worn them, she despised the blemishes themselves...

   "Link?" she cooed.

   The young man only managed to blink in answer, his mind yet cloudier than she had felt it seconds ago.

   "I want to remove them," Hylia murmured softly, voice soft as a cloud of velvet, yet as cold as a river stream. When she heard no protest, she added

   "I will begin now if you'll let me."

   Link caught the request (or the notice); he forced himself to gather his thoughts, remembering the purpose of her touches and considered.

   He shook himself inwardly, and then took a fresh breath.

   "I—I think I would like to keep this one. Or...the deepest... Largest..."

   "One of the largest?" she repeated, pondering before she nodded slowly, her jaw set and her eyes two blue flint of searing ice.

   "I think I...can...understand," she quietly decided. (And if one her fist was shaking, it was only from rage; not to keep the tears away.) "Let me take care of the rest?" she asked, only one note too low not to sound like she was begging. Link hesitated a little and she wasn't sure whether it was the expression on her face or something else that made his mind but he finally nodded.

   She had had centuries of more and less lucid dreams to practice her magic. Old spells learnt in decades of learning emerged in her mind. Most felt still practicable, even now available for her use.  

   The real flow of magic —practical magic— felt delicious under her skin as she summoned the energy dormant in matter, all around of her.

   Eager to find out if her careful practice would be as fruitful as she had imagined for centuries, she gave new purpose to energy, channeling it through hers, only to fuse into the body of the young man beneath her, molding the shape of skin and bones, treating one blemish after another.

   Several minutes later, after she resealed the energy and let her magic slowly fade off; she kept its residual heat to tan, rejuvenating pigments, so that healed skin matched the rest. (Has magic always felt so sweet to control?)

   His gentle smile brought her focus back to the present.

   Now that she has seen the scars, such a smile had taken a new weight in her mind. The peace he cast felt much stronger, a stubborn resilience against the violence he had been subject to. This reality sliced through her will like butter.

   She willed guilt away and inspected her work, touching once more; making sure nothing had been forgotten.

   The result was not perfect, much less precise that what she remembered herself capable of doing; a thousand and many years ago, in another life, another body...

   A yearning pushed on her heart; a new desire that pressed itself on her throat and behind her eyes. She drew her brows but the whisper escaped her first and washed clean her mind from both old divine ethics and young feminine shyness.

    _'D-do you realize...that I-I...'_  

   Only a very vague magical impression reached him when the thought slipped through their Bond despite of herself. Her hands trailed through his hair, caressing the sides of his scalp...her face averted.

   She let them glide forth as she leaned into him, her fingers trailing down the sharp bones of his face, showing him more than her words could and he found out why she had turned away. Her face was flushed with embarrassment, her eyes lit with burning adoration. She finally turned toward him but her eyes stood on his neck, not daring to meet his.

   She distracted herself with his skin, passing her hands around of his neck, to press gently there. Her eyes were aglow with desire, the only trace of passion flickering through her composure. She joined their lips with an agonizing slowness, not quite kissing; the firm dough of her breasts pressed against his chest, cold tight peaks embedding themselves in his heart like two lightening needles.

   Fists white from clinging on the sheets beneath his head, Link arched his back; no longer minding his low whine. He took a minute to rein on his need, forcing himself to obey despite of every instinct that told him to dive into Zelda's welcoming warmth. _She had not given him the go._ Trying to keep his breath silent, he sighed impatiently.

   She drank in every emotion that painted his face; mixed empathy and delight grew into passion, tearing her heart and her core both. Hylia closed her eyes and laid her face on his midsection in order to keep herself together.

    _'I know you can be more patient than that, beloved,'_ she mock-scolded° him with gravity. (Yet, pressed hard into the skin above his navel, her full lips didn't even move.)

   Then, it clicked in Link's head, his brows raising under thick golden bangs. This time, he _knew_ it: her voice had really echoed in his head!—

   When he lifted wide eyes full of questions, Hylia held it with the same assertiveness Zelda had always had when she teased him. He fought not to gulp and gasped. "How much..." Baffled, cautious, he inquired again, "what else have you learnt to do with magic...?"

   She indulged in a small laughter (that scoundrel).

   But his brows drew together with the faint rise of worry that came with the revelation.

   He blinked, his brains insisted that something weird that had just happened and he might want to think still if only for a second.  

   "You can echo...your thoughts..." still, his eyes lit with childlike wonder, a shine of curiosity hesitantly piercing the fog of lust that had clouded his mind to read its head.

   "Can you do...is that something like telepathy?"

   Hylia's lips attached themselves to his jaw to draw under the bone with the tip of her tongue —which seemed the better of her two options. The other being to tell him exactly what she wanted to do to him... He couldn't look at her with boyish innocence if he wanted to talk.

   She tested her resolve.

   And smiled. _Can I?_

   He heard his question returned to him in his own mind. An airily laugh followed.

   "Do you mind...?"

   The hero felt a shudder course his body at the realization that Zelda could hear his thoughts. At the moment, it left him no way to hide anything from her, no place even in himself that she wouldn't be able to command in multiple ways.  

   His breath hitched and he couldn't contain the traitorous moan of contentment that flew from his throat.

   ...

   It earned him a low chuckle.

   "With you I can do many things, even though a mortal mind and body," she says with cruel serenity as she closed her hand against him once more, resuming her slow caresses.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨Ʒ

   Link felt himself torn between the comfortable sense of security it brought and a petty surge of envy for the power she displayed.  

   So far, his own had only gifted him with sharpened senses and reflexes. Though it was nice to get to rediscover touch and smell so acutely (especially right then), that seemed negligible compared to hers.  

   He could feel and notice things he had never before without the help of magic or tools, but it felt as if it was but a fraction of what she had really gifted him after his oath. But so far, he had no clue of what he could do about it.  

   Well, he would investigate later, at more appropriate times...

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨Ʒ

   Hylia had always felt attracted to theoretical knowledge. She might not have known much of...physical activities, yet through the centuries, she had stumbled on many a couple by accident...

   Oh, blast the Winds!

   She would just begin gently and adjust herself by his squirming. (Well, she was hopeful that he would squirm.)

   ... She had never been physically attracted this strongly to her Chosen in her previous body. With his present vessel only she had discovered a first time of sorts; in the carnal height adding itself of her already strong passions for him.

    _In any case_ , she reaffirmed, feeling a little more confident about her decision; the Bond, at least, allowed her to share an exclusive affection with him. _Both in the eyes of the Three Ladies and per her new mortality_.

   "Since you have given me an Oath of spiritual servitude," she added, as her grasp, lower, became a little more assured, "I have drawn the pattern of your magical energy into my heart. With it, I will always be able to find you, whether you are in this word. Because, if I search for it, I will be able to hear your loudest thoughts, and feel your deepest needs."

   As she finished speaking, she beamed and let a silver of possessiveness slip in her smile.

    _Also_ , Hylia admitted, _she was weak in the knee for him_. ...And that didn't nail it even by far. What she felt for _Link_ was more imperative and intimate even than with a normal romance. It tied them differently, more completely; and beyond even their lives.

   Old instincts made her furrow her brows, trying to pinpoint what made her hesitate. She had a nagging feeling of forgetting something in all of this...

   "Those are the powers I can use by tapping into both our energies at once. ...Among others," she added, her voice rolling on a faint pebble of satisfaction.

    _"O-her pow..._ " The young man tried to articulate, his face so red that she feared he would burst from pressure if she kept this longer. Still, he managed to pretend that he could follow the conversation despite of her caresses.

   "Yes," Hylia confirmed, gleefully, still moving her hands along him, never hurried.

   "Sending you messages, levitating, weaving illusions, or using fiercer magic to battle... I think I could manifest weapons...perhaps small item such as musical instruments. If I tried," she pondered lightly, eyes cast up as she thinks as if he wasn't busy almost writhing under her body.

   ( _Ow_ , she finally remembered. _The Binding Ceremony._ Yes. How could she have forgotten?  

   ... They would have been more readily approved as an item if this engagement had come first between them...)

   She shrugged, trying to keep a tranquil poise.

   With a smile that looked much too pristine for what her other hand was busy doing to him, she finished explaining "And still...this connection you granted me through our Bond already enhances my magic greatly..."

   (Their Bound kind of made the traditional vows of commitment slightly redundant...still every Bond was unique, and many wouldn't understand a third of what they already had together.

   ...Even if they had a clue on where to begin to explain. Which she didn't.)

   When her eyes descended on him again her smile became sharp with intent. "I'm impressed, Link," she murmured against his cheek, grazing it with hers.

   (They could say that they had married already and just sign the registry of Skyloft. But her father, their friends would feel somewhat left out if they couldn't participate in the traditional ceremony...)

   "For all this time, you _behaved_ ," she coed in his ear with just the tip of false condescendence that she knew he enjoyed. He blushed despite himself and she chuckled a little. Then she drew back in a fluid move.  

   When she saw his face, pink and flushed but courageously meeting her eyes, his gaze blurry and honest, combined the wavering despair in his expression, in the quavering of his parted lips, in the valiant fight of his arms to remain as she had requited made her swoon. Just a little.

   In that instant, he was the most gorgeous man she had seen. There was a fine line between opposite qualities in and his delicious spirit, his well-rounded mental felt perfectly embodied by this man coming undone beneath her.

   She felt herself falling in love again with him. A possessive, jealous and all-consuming form of love that could have blinded her, fogging her thoughts, corrupted her.

   Slowly, she gasped, her eyes unable to leave his and she slowly but firmly reigned in her passions before they could get bothersome.

   There would be other times to explore, to play and consume. For now, for tonight, she would just give. It felt a right conclusion to the day, to his Oath. He had chosen her as much as she had millennia ago, and she belonged to him as much as he did to her now that he had offered his Oath.

   As a testimony to this will of equality, this night, she wanted to take her pleasure in the blooming of his own. After all, that meant she would have to take it slow. And _that_ meant that she would hear his sweet voice~

   "Then," she murmured, allowing hers to fall an octave lower —and her invisible raiment glided around him, barely touching and closing down on his skin— "it is time to take your reward."

   Those were the last words he heard, before her eyes glanced down. Her head descended until he couldn't see it anymore, and he loses his ability to think and all of his senses betray his in favor of touch and smell.

   For a time that felt both too long and too short, Link felt as if was she was going to kill him. Then he saw white, a jolting shot of electricity that left him gasp for breath as his mind relented in its grasp of consciousness. He thought about resisting and gave in; embracing the sweetest lull of sleep he had felt.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨Ʒ

   With a serene smile, cheek in her hand, Hylia looked down.  

   The face of her soul mate was clouded, his mouth slightly ajar and faintly panting still. The heaving of his chest still nervous and slowing progressively.  

   His mind was barely emerging again. He felt as if it had just drowned. She chuckled inwardly and let her eyes close in turn.

   Perhaps it was enhanced magic, perhaps it was hypersensitivity, or even a nicer backlash in codependency, but the surge of affection he felt for her was so fierce that it took him aback.  

   There was no rush, no incertitude and no curiosity this time; only the pleasure of being united with the most important person in his existence. There was no yearning, no need, no loss or sadness there; only peace and confident in their future.  

   For the first time, he truly felt at home on the surface.

   (For some weird reason, his mind supplied that the moment had the taste of a roasted hazelnut pie...and he couldn't care less to decipher why.  

   What in the word could possibly be sweeter than to lay beside her as she slept? He let himself fall back into sleep, a small lazy smile hanging on his face.


	6. Full Circle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are many syntax errors in this chapter as well. Please don't mind them and I'll clean them off as soon as possible.

    _This new life could be gotten used to,_  Link decided, head reclining back to the giant hammock that Zelda had tied with her magic.

   There laid Hylia's new Chosen; suspended above the ground without a care in the world; a fresh cloth smelling cucumber and avocado on his face, one arm above his head and the other stretched out over the edge. Besides, the old stones one of the tall crumbling walls of the temple extension sheltered him from the sun.

   Reminiscing the last months, he smiled and drew a sip of Owlan's white tea; a thank you gift from the instructor for the plant species they often brought him.

   Since the middle of spring, bushes and grass had grown so tall and tick that to spare their clothes getting torn or further soaked on rainy days, they had to cut a path across it.

   With the Razor Beetle, a device fresh enhanced for that exact purpose, cutting grass seemed almost fun. (... It was a bit addictive in truth.)

   Moreover, Zelda...well, _Hylia_ had made a little fixation about the tools he had retained from his journey. It wasn't too much of a surprise that the Gust Bellows would end up being used for domestic purposes, yet her fancy didn't stop on that item.

   Their first peaceful summer on the Surface world felt like a new kind of adventure of sorts... With heat came life, and new species of animals, plants, insects; many taller than those they had up there.

   Hylia liked to stalk birds and beetles with his bug net, suppressing her aura as much as she could to surprise them. Once the critters had recovered from the fright, she released them with some treats. Birds were almost sacred animals after all, she said. ...Link wasn't sure that it didn't dull their instincts a bit in the long run, though...  
Then, there was the Beetle. This one was seriously dangerous, he had tried to explain. It wasn't safe to be used for _entertainment_... But she had snorted and strode off with the huge magic tool. She rode it in the tallest branches and trees, exploring things. Link would have worried over it and insisted to stay with her, before; even if only to reassure himself.

   However, now, that the girl he loved almost _breathed_ responsibility, there was no urge to worry for her as much, he guessed. She...was more demanding and determined, but more patient, forgiving...and a bit less reckless. (Some indecisive sense of nostalgia rose and fell in him; in lieu of regret, the feeling that came was meek and quick to melt away.)

   Nevertheless, when riding her Loftwing had proven much more pleasant that the mental voyage the Beetle provided; she had begun to tinker with it to make it waterproof. From then, it was used to catch dangerous fishes and explore dregs, lees, abysses.

   The Clawshots was the item that had most of her fancy. It almost overpowered the thrill of jumping with a sailcloth apparently—she had to bring over a few pairs of breeches of course, wearing dresses mostly on special days, now. (He still couldn't decide whether he preferred her pants or skirts. That was a very thought choice and a serious question, really. He smiled.

   They had not been able to decide what to do with moblins, but as they lived in tribes, as easy preys to other creatures and nature itself...after a while killing those who got too close with superior technology hadn't felt right. After all, they were the intruders in a way.

   They had set on snatching their weapons and scare them of their ways. ...Of course things were not that simple and there had been more deaths that they would have wanted. Even so, at least, with the Whip at her hip, they _tried_ to leave life undisturbed. (Owlan had been insistent enough on that point with them.)

   So now they had two whips and a challenge to see how many thing they could catch from the thoughts or wily Moblins curious enough to try and ambush them.

   The sacred bow was only used to hunt. By her. He had had more than enough killing and was happy to leave it to her, knowing she had her Loftwing to watch her back and carry the meat back to their quarters. He was happy to cook instead, discovering crafty ways to develop skills; tiny things were what filled the off hours of his days with happiness. Moreover, the bow was still handy to activate switches and devices of the old world whenever they travel to find Owlan new plants.

*

   Link watched the sky as his carefree thoughts drifted away. He let them evaporating in the distant horizon basking in the peace of a well-deserved rest.

   Even though he still had to force himself to relax completely, there were no nightmares anymore. Her presence; magic, smell, breathing always entirely eased his sleep. He couldn't remember his mind having been more pleasantly at rest in years, now.

   Finally, this newfound life on the Surface with the girl he loved was beginning to feel real, solid, durable.

   The more he enjoyed it, the less he felt comfortable to go back to visit Skyloft, though. He had explained the markings on his forehead for the gift it was, without exactly saying that Hylia had done it herself, up and alive in front of him.

   However, even that way, it took time for Pipit to treat him like he used to. Before any of them had to become a Chosen One and find otherworldly magic.

   Then again, going alone for a day was one thing, but together, sleeping there felt weird.

   With how things had unfurled between him and 'Zelda', in a way, he had grown to dread the moment when the others would learn about their relationship. He couldn't imagine what they —and perhaps especially master Gaepora— would think about the Bond if they told them.

   Besides, magic avoiding biological complications or not, he wasn't sure he wanted to face her father with the fact he now lived alone with his only daughter on an immense world.

   There was a deep chasm between them and the skies, now. One that seemed to fate them to keep pretending to be innocent children courting each other whenever others would be watching.

   Maybe they would also have to settle down to a peaceful life; pretend that the violence of their story and the scoop of their concern could recede to that of any young mortals...  
When he had set foot on Skyloft again, he felt fully conscious of it. Somehow, he ended up donning whatever social mask would ease the others' mind; for the sake of peace, to spare them the sight of his wounds.

   However, they had become a large family to him, and hiding secrets would not be pleasant.

   Owlan must have noticed something. Conversely, maybe he was the only one who dared to admit it aloud... He had promised...he had said that he understood, that he would not tell the Headmaster what they didn't feel comfortable to share. He had someone to confide in again. For this, he felt immensely grateful to the instructor.

   Of course, there were details that he couldn't confide. Namely the fate of the Triforce. But the burden felt much easier to bear, still.

   He never spoke of the details of his adventures to the others; nor did he use Hylia's name even when it felt most pertinent to describe her.

   Soon, Horwell came to Zelda as well. The smiling instructor proved sharper than he looked. His magic being empathetic in nature, he had said later; Link had his brother and feeling a little girl's loneliness without not trying to help was a little too much for his stomach. With the fear of disclosing too much, it took convincing for Zelda to trust a friend this close.

   Still, it did little to deter the gentleman. The brown-haired instructor soon fell his own mask, slowly revealing a soul much older than it looked stubbornly trying to help people and animals alike with the strength of a smile. With only it and a few polite apologies, Horwell set a focused plan to crawl in their lives through the pretext of preparing Zelda's father to the idea of her marriage.

   Before long, the four of them began to share tea and open hearted jokes through long summer evenings. If not complete confidants, the instructor twins were people whose innocence, they didn't feel responsible for. Their houses became the places where Hylia and he could be real, without the need to appear carefree when they were worried, or innocents when they needed advice.

   Then, Zelda and he brought the Triforce back to the small ethereal realm she had created. Its emplacement would have to remain their secret. That way, hopefully, it wouldn't bring unrest in the hearts of people in the ages to come...

   Now, Link knew he would always be able to find her; the person who had tied his spirit to her blood.

   Together at least, they would both nurture and take from the Bond, and whenever the scoop of their duty would exceed the strength of their mortality, the mutual support it provided would balance them if only they could figure it out.

*

   Supper was still cooking, their Loftwings flying in low, lazy circles in the distance.

   Hylia took off her pod and crafting belt. She sat down at the wooden bench with a smile.

   Link's expression was shadowy when she took a glance at his face, but he greeted her with a casual gesture and a halfhearted attempt at an easygoing smile to dismiss it.

   When Hylia obviously didn't allow him to hide his worry with her, he more or less drew a pout before he relented. His head tilted on his side as he spoke.

   "The day you closed the last Time Gate in the temple...before he was sealed again, the...one you call Demise had cursed us. —Those were only words, and I didn't feel magic raising from him...but... When you said that you sensed him again in the sealing grounds, I knew it had been more than words."

   He sighed, his next words coming on a whisper. "I'm sorry. Maybe I should have listened to you. Maybe I should have tried to go back one last time."

   She had told him that she couldn't create the doors anymore; that closing them was the only power she had allowed herself to keep over them in her mortal body. Now, the flow of time could never be traveled so far. The Lanayru's sea had been one of the first places they had wanted to check to make sure that the surface would remain safe. Since the Gate in the Temple had been closed, the scenery of the past was lost forever. Even the time stones seemed to have lost a lot of power.

   "No. I think you were right." She said, her thoughtful eyes focusing on her boots. "I wouldn't have been able to handle the gate alone. If the powers I sealed in you had been activated, perhaps...but it's no use to think about it, right?" She looked up tentatively and attempted a smile.

   He nodded.

   "Hum..." She looked sideway and worried the cream hem of her tunic. "Will you tell me what he said?"

   Link tried to recall the phrasing =and gave her an approximation of the last words of the Spirit of Demise. "I will rise again. Those who share the blood of the Goddess and the spirit of the Hero are eternally bound to this curse. An incarnation of my hatred shall ever follow your kind, dooming them to wander a blood-soaked sea of darkness for all time..." he breathed out tiredly. "Perhaps he knew about the Bond. He knew there would be others like us..."

   When he looked up to watch the Triforce wistfully, Hylia watched her Chosen, the spirit she had chosen among all to share her burden with. For a long time, she didn't say anything.

   "I will think about it. Please don't let it bother you. Worrying is my role." She tried to smile smartly. "Alright?"

   The ghost of a smile barely moved his lips. He drew himself higher and summer warmth filled his eyes again. Taking an exaggerated and dramatic breath, he nodded and went to apply the finish touches of their dinner.

   They began to eat in the companionable silence that had set until Hylia looked up at him again with a secretive twinkle in her gaze. He stopped his move, fork midway in the air, just a tiny bit wary despite himself.

   "Yes?"

   "Let's go up there, tomorrow," she only said, tilting her head. "Okay...?"

   He nodded. With hesitation at first, then despondently.

*

   They set foot on the huge stone altar and let their Loftwings fly back to their own devises.

   Without word, Hylia walked to the engraved wall and looked up. In its encasement, the Triforce glowed with a quiet magnificence.

   The pull of the Golden Powers' magic distracted him, and he only noticed the sad longing in her eyes when she blinked it off.

   "One wish can't be made twice for the same result," she murmured low, for his ears alone. "And if the wisher heart isn't ready, the Golden Powers may break apart and be sent anywhere in the vastness of this World. It would be dangerous to leave them unwatched when the remnants of Demise could rise again."

   She fell silent.

   Nothing can challenge our Bond. My faith and love will last as long as it exists.

   Unable to send loquacious answers to her and not caring to, he just grunted back aloud.

   "But I must put the fate of this world first too. Because it is the reason of my existence along with the reason for our Bond. ...I hope that you will do so as well."

   "Willing is only one thing."

   "Nothing can deter the spirit of my beloved once he wills something."

   Silently, he gathered a deep breath, feeling the weight of their duty.

   "You know," he mused, so low that he was almost a whisper "when I told you that I believed you. It wasn't because of Demise's curse. It wasn't for a lack of caring, either."

   He watched her, and she didn't move her eyes off of the Triforce.

   "I simply knew that you cared for this world more than anyone. Even if I felt betrayed. There was no reason to doubt the rest. If you have not found a way to finish this, then I won't insist. If you are okay with it, I'll do my part. And I'll leave this to you."

   She extended her arm and clutched his hand in hers, giving a slow and warm squeeze before she spoke.

   "Thank you."

   "But don't ask me to put your duty before yourself. I'll protect you first and foremost. Then, we'll care for these lands together. ...Okay?"

   "Agreed," she conceded after considering his words.

   After a few seconds, she closed her eyes and her lips curled.

   When her eyes glided sideway to find his, her small tired smile mellowed with an air of lordly acceptance. Behind it, Link immediately sensed cunning mischief being brewed. Tensing up, he watched Zelda suspiciously.

   Without words, she joined her hands behind her back, and made a little show of turning around.

   Slowly stepping up to the middle of the altar with affected nonchalance, she watched him sideway, a smirk in her eyes, encouraging him to walk along her slow long strides.

   They bantered for a while. Her despondent teasing grew into a silly game of tag, giddiness putting a bounce in her steps. He followed in her dancing chase with small steps; double checking his footing, eagerly waiting for faints, wary of ambushes. He couldn't help but laugh as the thrill of the game got to them.

   With a distracting pout after a failed tackle, she tricked him. Now she had cornered him toward the border...  
His expression lifting with a bit of alarm when he found no more purchase for his footing.

   When she took a few steps back as if to launch herself into him, he raised his arms and opened his mouth to protest, his back rigid, hands shaking, he felt a cold sweat run down the nape of his neck.

   Then it dawned on him; how much she was still the same as the Zelda he knew; in moments of mischief, she was all over again the childhood friend he never stopped to love. (For there were not enough words to express how glad he was...)

   Link slowly blinked instinct away, his expression willfully changing to one of calm.

   With a tiny nervous smile, he held himself straighter, and raised his arms to catch her.

   Hylia stopped right before she could tips him over, watching for a second, looking a bit surprised, a bit charmed.

   She came closer and he closed weightless arms around of her head. Her kiss began as a tease. It sweetened before she could think; but possessiveness filled in and mischief rose again, underneath...  
Hylia tiptoed and pushed against him.

   As he slowly lost balance, her features mellowed, almost apologetically —he didn't buy it one second! Tipping off the altar, Link cried his lungs out, groping air while they fell down together to their death. No one has ever jumped this close to the ground, and a dozen of expression pass on his face as he watched her with resentment.

   And then, that scoundrel even chuckled.

   Before the wind gushed them apart, she grabbed his shoulders and whispered in his ear.

   "Quick, behind, take my waist!"

   Eyes lit with delight, she whistled for her Loftwing, boldly opening her arms to slow her fall, making her look like she was embracing her fate.

   Through the wind and every instincts telling him that _they won't have time_ and it sounds way too silly to die splattered on the Surface after all of this— he struggled to maneuver himself behind her. (By the Four Winds, he has pledged himself to a crazy deity and now it's too late—)

   "Brace yourself, sleepyhead!" he heard her warning him one second before her Loftwing caught her. She looked down and he followed her gaze to see the ground barely feet away of the bird.

   He laid, falling flat against the Loftwing's back, halfway down his rump. The air chased from his lungs, he crawled up and managed to sit up.

   Holding his thundering heart, and grinding his jaw, Link tried to forget his fright when the devious creature he rode behind suddenly had the nerve to giggle behind the back of her hand.

   "That was fun!" her voice sung in delight. Then she turned halfway to catch sight of him. "Unhurt?"

   His grudged glare widened her smile. "You look fine to me, mister," just like that, she turned back forward.

   "Your face was amazing," she teased him warmly. "That was...interesting," she added two little nods.

   "Well, you'll pay for that," he muttered under his neckline, lips drawn together— _and that didn't make it a pout_.

   Hylia hummed bemusedly and lowered herself to flatter her Loftwing's neck.

   "Come on boy, fly us up again!"

   "Why?" Link interjected from behind her before he could help it.

   But Zelda gently reclined back against him and boldly, she turned her face to press her cheekbone into his chin.

   "Trust me?" her round voice murmured; so suddenly honest that he couldn't decide whether he wanted to get revenge on her flesh or to thank her for letting him be hers. In the end, the warmth of her back against him and the rhythm of her heartbeat pulsating though their joined skins added to the encompassing heat other voice...felt too good to care. (His pride came from serving Hylia, anyway. anyway. _As long as she knew there were such things as heart attacks, that is...)_

   'Beloved?' she softly called in his mind as they landed.

   Not feeling like speaking Link just grunted.

*

   Silently, he pulled away from her and turned around. Taking a few steps, he listened to the clear sound of his feet against the stone, trying to make up his mind. Before she could ask, he inhaled and went to the Triforce. There, he reach around the altar and retrieved a pouch from an old hole cracked in the stone.

   He didn't dare to move, still hesitating while hearing her walk up to him as silently as possible.

   He stopped looking at the bundle in his arms and called her before she could speak, afraid that if the mood was lost his decision would falter.

   He turned around and took a long breath, unable to help but watch the bundle as he spoke.

   "I— This is for you. It has been sitting in my room for a while...I-I wanted to have something to give you too the day of the flight ceremony, but it had not been read back then, so..."

   He steeled himself and handed it out to her.

   Bemused, she tilted her head, and, careful, reached out to take the cloth package.

   It didn't took long for the linen to fall from the small wooden Loftwing. Surprised, she raised the statue to inspect it under sunlight and he watched away.

   Offering a Loftwing charm, in Skyloft was the same as saying " _I'll catch you if you fall._  It was a common way to comfort a frightened toddler... or give more weight to a friendship.

   ...  
The land's view was great from up here. Funny how far one could see if they concentrated.

   ...  
Suddenly, he thought about all the tiny way he could have polished the carving —really he could have waited just one day more before showing it— maybe he should just have bought a Loftwing plush after all.

After a few seconds, his stare at the horizon was so hard it began to cramp. (Giving up his pretense at calm, he brushed the side of his neck, and struggled not to pinch his lips.)

As her fingers brushed every of the curves, his smile returned fainter.

There were many bird plushes on the islands, but statues were less common a gift. He had wanted his to be a little different, since the friendship he had with her felt a little special. But now...

With a mute moan, he tipped the end of his shoe to the stone to break the crisp silence.

"Do you..." Her voice came evenly, crisp only at the edges and he pretended not to notice.

But she came again, emotion replaced with a very soft teasing lilt. "You know this is the second Loftwing you give me?"

Link sweated helplessly during a second. "T-the old one was rough and...and we were very young children," he quickly tried to explain. "It wasn't the same," he finished on a wishper, both shyly and casualy rehassing an old thought. 

"Wasn't it?" she mused. "What does this one mean now, then?"

She came closer to him, until he could smell the oils she used to bath with, mingled with the soft and fresh fragrance of her skin. "Do it mean you see me as a close friend too? ...Or are you showing appreciation for yesterday's night?" she murmured, her trailing jib betraying some hesitance.

Link's eyebrows jumped up into his bags and he blinked very round eyes.

He...had to admit that he had not thought beyond that point.

He had...he wanted to offer Hylia a Loftwing.

He called her by a different name when they were alone, and she had proven to be different than his childhood friend in many ways. And now his new feelings he had for her encompassed friendship, love and allegiance to the brim, and that was a decent enough excuse for his secretly carved gift to its destiny...so...

Even if the reason he had begun to carve it was no longer actual, it could be a token of acknowledgment now! It would tell her that he accepted her whole person; with her past and her decisions. That he didn't regret anything he had done for her sake.  
...  
That was what he had hidden it in the stone pier, but after her little stunt, somehow, to say these words to the woman herself was a little too much...

His brows furrowed, he tightened his lips and let his eyes slide to her side. 

While he thought this, Hylia smiled cradling her small refined carving. As she looked up to his face again, he was shocked to find trails of poorly dried tears shining down her cheeks. He held his breath.

"Thank you," she said, and her voice boomed cheerfully, raising above the whining of the wind. Despite of her tears, she wet her lips, poked her shin out and beamed at him fiercely as she concluded "for deciding to give it to me."

He briefly chewed on his lower lip, shifting his weight on his other foot... 

"And for not changing...despite of all that happened. For having waited for me. ...Your soul have saved me in the end." She tilted her head on the side. " _From myself_."

As a silence passed, she shook her head, laughing softly.

"I love you," she finished, as if all she could say only amounted to this in the end; as if every other word would have been superfluous...

He blinked, enjoying this rich simplicity, with a contemplative expression. However, he realized that was was growing anxious, ready to insist, to defend her claim.

As if he would doubt her feelings.

He met her torn expression --both guarded and earnest and felt bad for remaining silent so long. Well...there was the Loftwing, and there was the Bond's magic, both saying more than words seemed worthy of...

 _Oh,_  he realized. It was _faith_  she sought then.

He could hear the faint thrumming of her heart beneath her skin, against his arm, and a new, serene joy filled him.

And so her Chosen huffed, folding his arms.

"Well..." Hiding a smile, he defied a vertiginous pull of affection.   
 _Oh, 'know that, Zel,_  he thought tenderly, forgetting that she was still able to decipher his thoughts.  _Just_ — _please make sure it won't kill me too soon._

"I want to believe you, but..."

Link waited a little, gazing into the cerulean horizon ahead, letting it calm his heart before he looked at her with a smile that could almost only be called coy.

He even tilted his head on a side, pretending to ponder his conviction.

"To clarify, perha~aps, you should demonstrate now?" he finally quipped, with a goofy eagerness. With a silly grin and a wriggling of his eyebrows added in for good measure, he sled her bangs behind her pointed ear in a coy gesture and waited.

Anticipation building, vivifying, he grinned brighter and braced himself a little...just in case.

 _Yeah, this_ could _get used to..._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspiration on Pinterest: pin/313985405247538537/
> 
> I'm sorry for the cartoon feel of the ending. I'm not sure why I ended it on such a note...but somehow it felt...appropriate? What can I say? Link seemed to want it like that.
> 
> I hope to post a sequel to this story: Gift Of The Bond. On a similar tone, it would feature this Link's awakening as a Fierce Deity.  
>  I expect to post the first chapter in about two months after I'm done rewriting Sweet Lies. Expect romantic fun and serious character development...nothing big beyond that, though.


End file.
